LEAVING behind the heat and noise of the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature in Nagpur, a group of Congress leaders set out for Wardha, 80 km away. Their mission was to counter the BJP-Shiv Sena government’s attempts to unseat Charulatha Rau Tokas, the only woman to head a zilla parishad in Maharashtra. But their efforts proved futile. Tokas faced a bitter defeat precipitated by conniving party associates.
Twenty-nine-year-old Tokas is not the only zilla parishad president in trouble. The amendment of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis Act by the BJP-Sena government has substantially reduced the number of votes required for the passing of a no-confidence motion. This spells trouble for the Congress which at present virtually controls all the zilla parishads and panchayat samitis in the state.
The amendment is seen as a very clever move since it has given the BJP-Sena combine the opportunity to weaken the Congress at the grassroots level. This comes close on the heels of the state government’s move through a series of administrative measures to loosen the grip of the Congress on its traditional stronghold—the sugar cooperatives.
At the zilla and panchayat levels it is rebel Congressmen themselves who are inflicting the direct damage. Ever since the amendment, the requisition for special meetings have increased in a number of zilla parishads where rivalries have placed Congressmen into two distinct groups. This has set the alarm bells ringing in the Congress. Says Kripashankar Singh, MPCC general secretary: "I have only one job now: zilla parishad bachao."
Earlier, the Act provided that a three-fifths majority of councillors was essential to pass a no-confidence motion against a president or vice president. The notice for requisitioning the special meeting to consider the no-confidence motion had to be supported by at least one-third of the total number of councillors.
These amendments were introduced because the BJP-Sena government felt that the existing provisions were not democratic. They argued that it was difficult for elected representatives to "remove presiding authorities although they may have lost the confidence of the majority".
As per the ordinance, which became effective on October 30, only one-fifth of the total number of councillors from a zilla parishad or elected representatives of the panchayat samiti can requisition a meeting. And a simple majority at the meeting can pass a no-confidence motion. This has made it easier to unseat presidents.
In Chandrapur, the Congress managed to save itself. But the threat of being ousted is still present in Parbhani, Beed, Jalna, Sind-hudurg, Akoka and Yeotmal districts. Understandably, the Congress is upset by the turn of events. Points out Narayan Nikam, general secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress: "It is a shrewd and cunning political conspiracy against the Congress by the existing government. They want to break our link with the people before the Lok Sabha elections."
But dissidence within its ranks is adding to the Congress woes. In Wardha, for instance, the BJP and Shiv Sena do not have a foothold at the district or pan-chayat levels. It was warring Congressmen who did the trick. Of the 51 councillors, 36 were elected on Congress tickets. Of them, 11 were expelled from the party for working against the official Congress candidate in the assembly elections. The non-Congress members do not belong either to the BJP or the Shiv Sena.
But the BJP-Sena’s absence did not help Tokas who was routed eventually. She did not get a single vote from her party members. According to Santoshrao Gode, a former MP from Wardha, the BJP and Sena had to do very little. Says he: "Congressmen are doing a fine job destroying fellow Congressmen."
While trouble brews for the Congress at the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti levels, the BJP-Sena government is also working towards weakening the hold that the party has over the sugar cooperatives. The network of sugar cooperatives located in western Maharashtra has over the years become a major source of funds for the Congress. Many sugar barons are Congressmen and those who are not, are linked in some way with the party. New laws and amendments by the BJP-Sena government aim at breaking the power structure in these cooperatives.
Some steps taken by the government to this effect are:
The government is also thinking of lifting the zoning system under which cane producers in the zone of a particular factory are bound to sell to it. This would release the growers from the strangehold of the local sugar baron since they can sell their produce anywhere in the state.
Senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Ramrao Adik feels that the BJP-Sena combine is out to cripple the Congress and is taking advantage of the infighting in the Congress. "They (BJP-Sena) are trying to hit us with ordinances and amendments. Whether it is a sugar cooperative or an urban cooperative, they are trying to weaken us."
According to Adik, the future looks bleak for the Congress in Maharashtra unless infighting within its ranks is checked. Says he: "If we don’t act the BJP-Sena will capture the village panchayat and the zilla parishads. Right now 99 per cent of the villages are with us. But if the present trend continues, we will lose them. We have already lost the cities."
Minister for Cooperatives Jaiprakash Mundada dismisses Congress complaints that the steps he has taken are politically motivated. He says that the Congress is paying for its wrongs and adds that "irregularities" in the sugar cooperatives, cooperative banks, textiles and cotton mills are being examined.
Haste, vendetta, corruption. These are the accusations that the Congress is fling-ing back. A case in point, say Congress leaders, is the election to the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank. Congress leaders allege that the government tried to pres-surise the directors of the bank into voting for Suresh Jain, a rebel Congressman who has joined the N.D. Tiwari-Arjun Singh group. Jain lost but the Congress victory was short-lived. The bank got a show-cause notice from the government asking why the board should not be superceded and an administrator appointed.
The government’s argument about irregularities in the apex co-operative bank, and other banks does not wash well with the Congress. Congressmen are agreed that the only answer to the state government’s amendments and ordinances is party unity at every level. But can the Congressmen see eye to eye? For if the party was free of dissidence it may perhaps not be sitting in the Opposition benches in the Assembly.
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