MUMBAI: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday made a veiled remark against the MVA government in Maharashtra claiming bank guarantees were not being issued to some sugar mills that have links to leaders of opposition parties.
Shah was speaking at a function related to the cooperation sector in Ahmednagar district, some 250 kilometres from here.
"I am not here to break something but to join the missing links. However, I have seen some state governments are not giving bank guarantees to sugar mills whose management is politically linked to opposition parties. Why can't governments settle their sugar mill related issues within the respective state instead of prompting us to hold hearings in New Delhi," Shah said.
"This practice is not right. The state government needs to rise above politics. I am not going to be a mute spectator in this sector. Maharashtra's cooperation movement is as holy as Kashi for many people," he asserted, adding that he would observe what cooperative societies were doing rather than "who manages it and their political inclinations".
Shah, while asserting that the cooperation sector needs modernization and has to be competitive, said district central cooperative banks from Maharashtra were hailed for its good performance earlier, but most of them were poorly managed now.
It is corruption that has paralyzed these banks and not the RBI (rules and regulations), he added.
Incidentally, Ahmednagar district holds the distinction of setting up Asia's first cooperative sugar mill, which is managed by Congress-turned-BJP MLA Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil at present.