How BJP-led Mahayuti secured Gokul dairy weeks after losing board election | Political Pulse News
Mahayuti candidate and former NCP MLA Rajesh Patil was elected chairman of the Kolhapur District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Gokul, on Tuesday, following a controversial election in which he defeated the candidate backed by the panel led by Congress MLC Satej Patil. Gokul is one of the most important cooperatives in Maharashtra and wields financial and political influence.
The chairman’s election followed a prolonged legal tussle over the voting rights of government-nominated directors. In the October 19 elections to Gokul’s 25-member board, the Satej Patil-led Samavichari Aghadi had won 13 seats, against 12 secured by the Mahayuti panel. However, the election of the chairman was stalled after the October 29 meeting was adjourned for want of the mandatory quorum of 14 directors, with all 12 Mahayuti directors staying away. The Samavichari Aghadi subsequently announced Shashikant Patil Chuyekar as chairman at a separate meeting, a decision that triggered a legal dispute.
On Monday, the Bombay High Court refused to stay the Maharashtra government’s ordinance allowing the appointment of nominated directors to large cooperative societies and rejected the plea to defer the chairman’s election. It allowed the four government-nominated directors to vote, but directed that their ballots be kept in a separate ballot box and preserved pending further hearing. The court also directed that the election proceedings be preserved, with the outcome subject to the final decision in the case, which is scheduled for hearing on November 25.
With the four nominated directors joining the 12 Mahayuti-backed elected directors, the alliance secured 16 votes against 13 polled by the Samavichari Aghadi candidate, Shashikant Patil Chuyekar. Rajesh Patil was thus elected chairman by a margin of three votes. The government’s ordinance had resulted in the Congress levelling vote theft allegations against the BJP-led government, while CM Devendra Fadnavis defended it, saying the government was well within its rights.
What victory means for NCP
Patil’s election as Gokul chairman is also significant in the context of the political equations within Kolhapur, particularly the apparent rapprochement between MP Sanjay Mandlik and NCP Minister Hasan Mushrif, who had been at loggerheads in the past.
Patil is the brother-in-law of MP Sanjay Mandlik. In the previous Gokul elections, held five years ago, Patil’s wife and Mandlik’s son had both been defeated. The outcome had triggered friction between Mandlik and NCP Minister Hasan Mushrif, who wields considerable influence in Kolhapur politics. This time, however, Mushrif backed Rajesh. With Patil securing the Gokul chairmanship, the two leaders appear to have set aside their past differences, at least for now.
But it was not just Patil’s victory that drew attention. During the election, he was the only one among the 12 Mahayuti directors who chose to wear a Gandhi cap instead of a “pheta (traditional Marathi headgear)”. The choice had a personal significance: Patil had pledged in 2024 that he would not wear a pheta until his leader, Ajit Pawar, became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
The pledge followed Patil’s defeat in the 2024 Assembly elections from Chandgad, where he contested on an NCP ticket and lost to an Independent candidate. The defeat had upset Ajit Pawar, who, during a subsequent visit to Kolhapur, had refused to wear a pheta. Taking this as a setback for his leader, Patil had vowed to work towards ensuring that Ajit Pawar became Chief Minister.
However, that wish remained unfulfilled. Ajit Pawar, who was serving as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, died in a plane crash on January 28. Patil’s decision to continue wearing a Gandhi cap during Tuesday’s election was a reminder of the pledge he had made.
Rajesh Patil is the son of Narsing Gurunath Patil, who served as the Chandgad MLA in 1990 and 1999. He won the Chandgad Assembly seat on an NCP ticket in 2019 but was defeated in the 2024 elections after being renominated by the party.
