Sweet tidings? Maharashtra sugar barons make beeline for Opposition MVA
Ahead of the Assembly elections, political activity is intensifying among Maharashtra’s sugar barons, particularly those managing cooperative sugar mills. Notably, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is now emerging as their preferred destination, reversing previous support for the BJP-led Mahayuti. This shift includes key figures like Harshvardhan Patil, signaling a significant political realignment in the state’s sugar industry.
Ahead of the Assembly elections, political activity has started heating up among the sugar barons of Maharashtra, especially those who control cooperative sugar mills.
And, in a clear reversal of trends, it is the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) that is emerging as their preferred destination, rather than the BJP-led Mahayuti they had supported during the Lok Sabha elections.
Incidentally, as per sugar industry insiders, the new political migration mostly comprises leaders who do not have cases against them or have to deal more with the state government than the Centre. “Those who have serious cases against them might not take the risk but others would certainly do,” a source said, referring to cases lodged against leaders by Central agencies.
When Ajit Pawar walked out with a majority of the united NCP’s MLAs and joined the Eknath Shinde-led government in 2023, one of the common accusations his camp faced was that they had changed sides to escape scrutiny from the Central agencies. For instance, Cabinet minister and NCP MLA Hasan Mushrif’s mills, which are linked to companies led by Ajit Pawar, had seen repeated visits by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged misappropriation of funds.
Similarly, when Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who manages the Bhaurao Chavan Cooperative Sugar Mill in Nanded district, joined the BJP in February this year, his detractors claimed Chavan was hoping to avoid the glare of Central agencies. The Indian Express had reported in April that as many as 23 of 25 prominent leaders who joined BJP since 2014 were either let off by the Central agencies or their cases were allowed to go cold.
Cut to recent days. Samarjeet Ghatge, chairperson of the Shri Chhatrapati Sahu Cooperative Sugar Mill in Kolhapur district, once seen as close to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, was among the first to change sides ahead of the Assembly elections. Asked if he feared action from Central agencies, as alleged by many, he said, “The audit of the mill is in public domain. Anyone can examine the same.”
On Monday, former minister and BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil became the latest sugar baron to jump ship to the Opposition side. Patil is the chairperson of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited and Karmayogi Shankarraoji Patil Cooperative Sugar Factory. At his induction, Sharad Pawar said Patil would be the party’s contestant from the Indapur Assembly seat.
After making public his decision to quit the BJP Friday, Patil said he was doing it to honour the sentiments of his workers. “I was offered some proposals by the Deputy Chief Minister, but if I agreed to them, it would have been selfish,” he said. In a meeting with Fadnavis, Patil was reportedly offered a different constituency or a Rajya Sabha berth as consolation but he refused saying his supporters wanted him to contest Indapur, a stronghold for Patil.
Patil’s return to the MVA fold came almost exactly five years after he quit the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. At the time, the 61-year-old had cited the developmental agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as the reason behind his move.
This time, Patil’s exit was prompted by his desire to contest the Assembly polls from his preferred Indapur constituency. State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “The BJP could not do this as we have a sitting NCP (Ajit Pawar) MLA, Dattatrey Bharne, from Indapur. In such a situation, it was difficult to stop him.”
The exit of the sugar barons comes when the BJP-led Mahayuti is already trying to get its house in order ahead of the Assembly polls. Unlike some of the established Maratha families in western Maharashtra, who can influence half a dozen seats, Patil’s electoral prowess is limited to his own Indapur constituency in the Pune district. However, Patil is a seasoned politician who is seen as a past master at political management, particularly in the sugar belt. In state politics, Patil has friends across party lines, with the only exception being his long-running rivalry, particularly in Indapur, with Ajit Pawar.
After his defeat in the 2019 Assembly polls, when he quit the Congress to join the BJP, Patil had failed to become either an MLC or Rajya Sabha MP or minister. It was only in February this year that Patil was appointed as president of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Federation.
Given the cash-incentive nature of their business, cooperative sugar mills have always tried to be on the right side of the party in power. Thus, when the BJP came to power in 2014, there was a mass migration of sugar barons to the saffron party from the NCP and Congress. In 2019, another spell of migration was observed, especially from western Maharashtra. The trend is now reversing, with barons now returning to the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP.
Party sources say that more names of sugar barons who are expected to switch sides are doing the rounds, including those in Solapur and Ahmednagar districts.
