NCP leader and former MLA Rajesh Patil, who contested as a Mahayuti candidate, was elected chairman of Gokul Dairy in Kolhapur on Tuesday after a closely fought election.
The election for the chairman's post took place amid a massive political controversy over the BJP-led Maharashtra government's decision to nominate four directors with voting rights after a panel backed by Congress MLC Satej Patil won a narrow 13-12 majority in the last month's election to the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, popularly known as Gokul Dairy.
The Bombay High Court had on Monday refused to grant a stay to the government's ordinance conferring voting rights on the four nominated directors, even as Opposition leaders and dairy farmers staged a massive protest in Kolhapur alleging a "blatant assault on cooperative democracy."
The Aurangabad bench of the High Court ruled that the four nominated directors can participate in the election, but their votes be kept in a separate ballot box.
Patil secured 16 votes, said BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dhananjay Mahadik.
He would work with all 25 elected directors, four government-nominated directors and two co-opted directors during his one-year tenure to safeguard the interests of milk producers, the cooperative and its employees, Patil said after the election.
He would focus on recovering the losses incurred by the cooperative over the past year, he said. Patil also appealed to the opposition to set aside political differences and work together.
The annual general meeting of the cooperative is scheduled to be held next month, he said.
Mahadik said the decision to elect an NCP leader as chairman for the first year was taken by consensus, while the arrangement for the subsequent year would be decided through discussions.
A deadlock had emerged after 12 directors stayed away from meetings, raising the possibility of an administrator being appointed if the required quorum was not achieved, Mahadik said, crediting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and both Deputy Chief Ministers with resolving the issue by appointing four government-nominated directors.
State Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif congratulated Patil. The NCP leader too defended the controversial appointment of four nominated directors, said it helped resolve the quorum-related deadlock.
Defeated candidate Shashikant Chuyekar of the Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi claimed that he secured the votes of 13 out of the 25 elected directors, and the chairman's election was won by Patil through the use of force rather than democratic means.
(With inputs from PTI)
