Raj Thackeray attacks BJP over Gokul Dairy board move, calls it 'dirty tricks'

MNS chief questions government nominees with voting rights after Satej Patil-backed panel wins narrow majority in cooperative polls

Raj Thackeray accused the BJP of using "dirty tricks" to gain control of Gokul Dairy after its backed panel finished behind in the cooperative's elections

The Satej Patil-backed panel won 13 of 25 seats, while the Mahayuti-backed group secured 12; the chairman's election remains stalled over quorum

A cabinet-approved proposal allowing five government nominees, four with voting rights, could shift the balance towards the Mahayuti-backed panel

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Friday accused the BJP of attempting to overturn the electoral balance at Kolhapur's Gokul Dairy through government-appointed directors, questioning the ruling party's commitment to democracy.

In a post on X, Thackeray criticised the move to add five government nominees to the cooperative's board, four of them with voting rights. He said the BJP should accept the outcome of an election conducted through secret ballot.

The dispute follows elections to the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, popularly known as Gokul Dairy. The Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samavichari Aghadi, backed by Congress MLC Satej Patil, won 13 of the board's 25 seats. The panel supported by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured 12.

Despite the result, the chairman's post remains vacant because meetings to elect a chairman have failed to meet the required quorum of 14 directors.

.Rahul Gandhi calls BJP's Gokul move 'theft of votes'. The state cabinet has approved a proposal empowering the government to nominate five additional directors, including four with voting rights. The move could give the Mahayuti-backed group an advantage in the contest for control.

Thackeray questioned why the government sought to introduce voting nominees after the BJP-backed panel fell short of a majority. He described the move as an attempt to avoid accepting defeat and accused the party of abandoning its principles to secure control of the dairy.

He also mocked the BJP's "Save Democracy" rallies, arguing that a party holding power across different levels of government was staging demonstrations against the opposition while undermining an elected majority.

"If you genuinely respected and cared about democracy, you would never have resorted to such a move," he wrote.

The MNS chief linked his criticism to Maharashtra's severe water crisis, saying the BJP appeared to face an equally acute shortage of common sense.

His attack extended beyond the cooperative dispute. Thackeray criticised the BJP's record on terrorism, law and order and the economy, suggesting sarcastically that it might next organise rallies to "save" the economy.

He said opposition parties had spent 12 years enduring the BJP's pursuit of majorities and argued that the ruling party must now accept shifts in public support.

With voters beginning to move towards the opposition, Thackeray said, the BJP needed to learn to tolerate the changing political situation.