The decision, taken on Wednesday, provides for the appointment of five state-nominated members to the managing committees of cooperative institutions with an annual turnover exceeding Rs 5 billion. District central cooperative banks have been excluded from the provision. Of the five nominated members, four will have voting rights on the board.
The provision has raised concerns over its potential impact on Gokul Dairy, where the October 19 election produced a narrow victory for the Congress-led panel. According to Khera, the Congress-led panel secured 13 seats on the 25-member board, while the Mahayuti alliance won 12.
Despite the election results, Gokul has not yet elected its chairman. Directors supported by the Mahayuti alliance have reportedly stayed away from meetings called to elect the chairman, preventing the board from achieving the required quorum of 14 members. The Bombay High Court has ordered another election for the chairmanship on November 10.
The controversy escalated on Wednesday after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared a post by Khera on X. Gandhi alleged that the BJP had changed the rules after losing the election to milk producers and was attempting to appoint four additional directors to increase its strength from 12 to 16.
Describing the proposed move as an attempt to take away milk producers' voting rights, Gandhi accused the BJP of resorting to such measures to retain political control. He also warned that farmers would remember those responsible for the decision.
Khera alleged that legislative changes were being used to alter the composition of Gokul's elected board. He said the Cabinet had approved the appointment of four voting nominees instead of allowing the existing board to function according to the election mandate. Questioning the government's authority to change election rules because it disagreed with the outcome, he said a challenge had been taken to the Supreme Court to protect the electoral mandate and the autonomy of cooperative institutions.
The political confrontation intensified on Thursday when Rohit Pawar, an NCP (SP) member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, appealed to supporters of democracy and the Constitution to gather around Gokul during the chairman's election.
In a post on X, Pawar alleged that the proposed appointments were intended to secure control of the cooperative despite a mandate from 550,000 members in favour of a panel supported by Congress leader Satej Patil. He urged supporters to assemble outside the dairy, saying their message should reach Mumbai and Delhi.
Pawar also expressed solidarity with Gokul's members and senior Congress leader Satej Patil. Congress and the NCP (SP) are partners in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
Asserting that Maharashtra stood behind Gokul's members, Pawar said the issue was not limited to Patil or Kolhapur but concerned everyone committed to democracy and the Constitution. He described the decision to introduce nominated members as a move that would create anarchy.
In another criticism directed indirectly at the BJP, Pawar attributed the decision to the wounded pride of those who could not hold a victory procession in Kolhapur after the election results were announced. He questioned whether the government would now use nominated members to override the choices made by voters.
Pawar further claimed that similar methods could be attempted if the government faced defeat in a future Lok Sabha election.
The dispute over Gokul Dairy has consequently developed into a wider political and constitutional confrontation, with opposition leaders questioning the proposed use of government-nominated voting members to influence an elected cooperative board. With the Bombay High Court ordering a fresh chairman's election for November 10 and the Supreme Court challenge cited by Khera, the controversy has brought the autonomy of cooperative institutions and the validity of their electoral mandates into focus.
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