Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), on Thursday, cut a sorry figure after its Pune district president Pradip Garatkar sparked a row, asking all aspirants to the administrator’s post to pay Rs 11,000 as a donation to the party’s fund. Garatkar, without keeping the leadership in the loop, issued such instructions to the taluka heads on July 14, a day after the state government issued a notification on the appointment of administrators for 14,000 gram panchayats.
The appointment of administrators for 14,000 of the total 28,000 gram panchayats in the state is necessary, as despite the expiry of their terms, the state election commission had postponed the elections because of the lockdown. The elections are expected to take place in October-November this year. The appointment of administrators will be exploited by NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress to select their followers and, thereby, consolidate their strengths in their respective gram panchayats to checkmate the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the elections.
The Minister of Rural Development Hasan Mushrif told Free Press Journal, “The party has not given any instructions. I spoke to the senior leaders from Pune, suggesting action against Garatkar. I also told them to ask Garatkar to withdraw his letter.”
Garatkar, in his letter, had instructed all taluka presidents to distribute the application form for the appointment of administrators for the gram panchayats. He also stated that the aspirants should fill up the application form along with a non-refundable party fund donation of Rs 11,000. That will be credited to the NCP Pune district units’ official bank account.
Incidentally, Garatkar, who has attached the application form with his letter to the taluka presidents, expects the applicants to submit details with regards to their educational qualification, caste, post held in the party and experience in the social sector and administration.
Meanwhile, BJP has led a scathing attack against NCP on this issue. Former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar wrote a letter to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, requesting him to hold an inquiry into the communication sent by Garatkar to NCP.
