BJP and the leader of opposition in the state council Pravin Darekar in particular on Thursday received a major setback after the party legislator Prasad Lad was defeated by the NCP leader Siddharth Kamble in the crucial election for the post of Chairman of the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank popularly known as Mumbai Bank.
Kamble, who is a close confidant of the NCP veteran and the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, bagged 11 votes against 9 by Lad, who is a former NCP leader but now BJP legislator with a proximity to former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. BJP’s defeat is important as the panel led by the outgoing chairman Pravin Darekar had won 21 seats of which 17 were unopposed. The Mumbai Bank was hogging the headlines in connection with various controversies.
Today’s victory was the result of the NCP and Shiv Sena alliance which was formed after a meeting between Pawar and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray who was accompanied by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s close confidant Milind Narvekar. With today’s victory, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi will now control the Mumbai Bank which was until recently chaired by Darekar backed by BJP.
As per the agreement reached between NCP and Shiv Sena, the NCP will hold chairman’s post for initial two years or two and half years and Shiv Sena nominee will later take over for the remaining period.
The state government had recently reopened a probe into complaints of alleged misappropriation of funds.
Further, Darekar has been under scanner under the scanner of the Maharashtra Government in connection with his election to the bank from the labourer category. The Divisional Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies in its order had recently said the affidavit submitted by Darekar to the Election Commission as a legislator does not include the assets of crores of rupees as well as the entries made as a professional. A person earning Rs 2.5 lakh as legislator-Leader of Opposition cannot be a labourer.
