Congress-BJP slug it out over a milk federation election result in Maharashtra

Developments in the aftermath of Maharashtra’s largest milk federation election have churned Maharashtra politics. On Thursday (November 5), Rahul Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of stealing milk producers’ votes.

This was days after Congress leader Satej Patil’s panel won a wafer-thin majority against the Mahayuti panel by gaining 13 of the 25 seats in the Gokul Milk Federation election. Now, ahead of the chairperson’s election, which is to be held on November 10, the Maharashtra cabinet has approved a controversial amendment that allows the State government to appoint five nominated directors (four of whom will have voting rights) to large cooperatives with turnovers exceeding ₹500 crore. This is likely to tilt the majority in favour of the Mahayuti, which had earned 12 seats.

Congress will now take out a protest march in Kolhapur on November 9 against the State government’s decision to nominate directors. “This is nothing but murder of democracy. This is the disrespect of the farmers’ voice,” Satej Bunty Patil said. He said the party will fight this battle in the court as well as on the streets. The Congress leader has already moved the Bombay High Court in the matter.

Gokul, or Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, is one of the most fiercely contested cooperative battles. Gokul was founded in 1963.

It has an annual turnover of approximately ₹4,000 crore (for 2024–25). It links 4.41 lakh milk producers across 1,810 villages through a network of 8,009 village-level cooperative societies.

Last month, an election was held to elect 25 directors to the cooperative’s board for a period of five years. These directors are supposed to vote for the chairperson, but the quorum for the election is 14. Satej Bunty Patil’s panel has 13 elected members. After his victory, the Mahayuti panel refused to attend the meeting. Since the quorum was not met, the chairperson’s election could not be held. Now the election is to be held on November 10. Before that, the State cabinet passed an ordinance this week to amend the rules for the nomination of directors in large cooperatives.

“Taste Gokul products for the final time. The plan is to take over the brand and hand it over to Amul,” Mr. Patil said while speaking to reporters on Thursday (November 5).

Rahul Gandhi’s post

On Thursday (November 5), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on his social media handle on X, “In Gokul, milk producers have defeated the BJP. So the BJP changed the rules after the election — stuff in 4 districts, turn 12 into 16, steal the majority. This is theft of the milk producers’ votes — adulteration in the mandate. The BJP has become so desperate that it’s going to any lengths everywhere to save power. Those who steal the milk producers’ votes, remember – farmers don’t forget.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi should come together on the issue, while NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar urged “all those who believe in democracy” to ‘gherao’ Gokul Dairy.

Maharashtra CM defends board appointments

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday (November 5) defended the government’s decision to appoint board members in the Gokul matter. He also hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his statement. “First of all, look at the situation Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has come to. There are only 4,500 voters in Gokul, and he has to tweet about it from Delhi,” he said.

He claimed that the State government’s decision was in accordance with the cooperatives’ law. He said the situation of the failure to attain quorum can happen in other large co-operatives too, and that the government wanted to resolve it. “Some people feel this decision will not stand, while others believe it will. When this situation arose, we sought the Advocate General’s opinion before taking the decision,” he said.