: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State leadership is reported to be confused over the stance to be adopted on the curbs imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on financial transactions in cooperative banks.
While a group of the leaders, mainly State president Kummanam Rajasekharan and national executive member V. Muraleedharan, have raised objections about the functioning of the banks in the State and accused them of harbouring black money, a prominent section of leaders active in the cooperative sector have tacitly expressed their reservations about making sweeping comments without gauging their impact on the rank and file of the party, who are also beneficiaries of the cooperative sector.
The party has major stakes in 49 major banks and many cooperative societies active in different realms such as welfare of women and traditional workers and agriculture development and marketing, among others.
Sources in the cooperative sector told The Hindu here that the BJP wields absolute control over 14 banks in Kasaragod district, eight in Kannur, six in Thiruvananthapuram, two each in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Thrisur, and Kozhikode and one each in Wayanad, Malappuram, and Ernakulam.
In addition to these are a host of societies formed for welfare of different sections. The total funds wielded by the banks has been pegged at Rs.1,222 crore, the highest of Rs.560 crore in Thiruvananthapuram, followed by Rs.142 crore in Wayanad.
The societies have also played a pivotal role in bringing together workers and party sympathisers and its impact had reflected in the elections, mainly in Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. Some of the senior leaders are understood to have expressed their opposition in this score to the State leadership too.
