Mumbai: In a move with strong political ramifications, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government has formed a Cabinet sub-committee to study the option of empowering farmers to directly elect members of the powerful Agriculture Product Market Committees (APMC) that control the rural agrarian economy.
Political observers see the government’s move as part of BJP’s effort to gradually wrest control of the APMCs, which have traditionally been bastions of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
After pocketing victory in the recent zilla parishad elections, the BJP leadership feels that farmers are becoming inclined towards their party and direct elections in the APMCs could make BJP’s base stronger in rural Maharashtra. The current government has taken many decisions to weaken the Congress-NCP base in cooperative institutions in rural Maharashtra.
APMCs are strong bases that control the financial network of rural areas. In what seems to be an effort to breach this base, the Fadnavis government has formed a five-member Cabinet sub-committee under the leadership of marketing minister Subhash Deshmukh. Its other members are state finance minister Sudhir Mungantivar, irrigation minister Girish Mahajan, power minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule and environment minister Ramdas Kadam.
This committee will study and decide whether direct elections could be possible in APMCs. Currently, gram panchayat members and members of different cooperative societies vote during the election of APMCs. This has resulted in Congress and NCP local leaders establishing minor fiefdoms to control APMCs. The BJP leadership believes that if farmers get an opportunity to vote in these elections, they may vote against the traditional Congress and NCP leadership.
There are 307 active APMCs in the state. The largest APMC of Navi Mumbai will be excluded from these elections.
In neighbouring Karnataka, election expenditure for every APMC goes up to Rs 25 lakh. The government feels that the total expenditure in Maharashtra for APMC elections would go up to Rs 100 crore. Members will get a 5-years term once elected. The cost of elections will be borne by the APMCs concerned.
