Geared to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a shaky political chess-board in the wake of desertions by several old allies, BJP is more than eager to take onboard all the wings of RSS. In this connection, BJP President Amit Shah met Sahakar Bharati officials to gauge the country’s electoral mood, media reports say.
Jyotindra Mehta, President of Sahakar Bharati met Shah along with other officials but was reluctant to talk about the issues raised in the meeting. “It was an informal get-together where one was free to speak their mind; we discussed several issues which cannot be shared with the media”, said Mehta politely to Indian Cooperative.
Shah met the entire Arthik Samooh of RSS which included Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and others, besides the Sahakar Bharati. In the brain storming session, several issues of co-operatives such as 80 P, Opposition to
conversion of UCBs, etc were raised, informed sources confided to Indian Cooperative.
Without wishing to be named one of the participants told Indian Cooperative that BJP President was requested to make a provision where only scheduled urban cooperative banks are taxed. “Out of more than 1500 UCBs the number of Scheduled Banks are just 54; this way the govt would be meeting its revenue requirements up to 90 per cent while the majority of UCBS would come out of the tax net”, he underlined.
Another point raised was the bringing co-op banks within the ambit of corporates with a 50 crore turnover. A large majority of close to a thousand unscheduled banks face an issue of raising capital. It would be logical if co-op banks have to pay just as much of income tax as corporates with a Rs 50 crore turnover do, he argued. It bears recall that while co-op banks have to pay 30% income tax plus surcharge plus cess, Corporates with a Rs 50 cr turnover have to just pay 25%.
