The Congress and NCP face the accusation they have ruined the local cooperative movement by indulging in gross mismanagement and financial shenanigans.
Punditocracy’s contention is too many cooperative scams that broke here over the last days will not only queer the Congress- NCP’s electoral pitch but also give the BJP a head start in the polls.
In the recent days scores of prominent Congress and NCP politicians have left their parties and jumped on the BJP bandwagon. Their influence is bound to redound to the advantage of the BJP.
The apostates derive their influence from control over cooperatives as well as general economic operations in the area.
Sources say there are more than a hundred sugar cooperatives in this part of Maharashtra and most of them are controlled by politicians.
In Western Maharashtra most of those running for MLAs hail from the cooperative background. This underlines the importance of the cooperative sector in the politics of Maharashtra.