Gokul Dairy Control Battle: Congress Wins 13 Seats, BJP Seeks Nominees

The Congress-led panel won 13 of the 25 seats in Gokul Dairy's board election held on October 19, defeating the BJP-led Mahayuti panel, which secured 12 seats. Satej Patil heads the Congress-backed team, while minister Hasan Mushrif leads the Mahayuti side.

A board meeting scheduled for October 29 to elect the chairman could not proceed because the 12 Mahayuti-backed directors stayed away. Under Gokul's rules, at least 14 directors are required to form a quorum, leaving only 13 directors present.

“The state government has no interest in taking over a district-level cooperative institution.”

The Maharashtra Cabinet decided to amend the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, to allow the appointment of five nominated members to Gokul, four of whom would have voting rights. The state Cooperative Department issued an ordinance on Friday to implement this amendment.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis denied allegations that the BJP is attempting to take control of the district-level cooperative institution. He stated that the state government has no interest in such a takeover and advised the leaders to resolve the issue together.

More than 40,000 dairy farmers, citizens and Opposition leaders protested in Kolhapur on November 9 against the proposed government intervention. The demonstration was organised under the banner of Sangharsh Morcha.

The chairman's election is now scheduled for November 10 following court directions. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of stealing the votes of milk producers and tampering with the people's mandate.