Amid rumblings of a vertical split within his party, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) president and farmer leader Raju Shetti on August 8 denied suggestions of a schism.
The SSS has been buffeted by winds of discontent after Ravikant Tupkar, a close aide of Mr. Shetti and the most prominent face of the party, openly criticised his style of functioning at a recent public meeting.
Mr. Shetti, a former two-time MP from Hatkanangale in Kolhapur district, called a meeting of the party’s disciplinary committee in Pune on August 8 to resolve matters with Mr. Tupkar.
‘No plan to leave party’
Mr. Tupkar, however, skipped the meeting and remained in Buldhana district (in Vidarbha region), where he is said to have a sizeable following. At the same time, he denied that he was on his way to join the ruling BJP or any other party. “I have time and again expressed my dissatisfaction and personal concerns before Mr. Shetti regarding his style of functioning. This is not a recent issue but has been festering for the last four-five years. What is the point of holding meetings again and again given Mr. Shetti is aware of my concerns?” said Mr. Tupkar, explaining his reasons for not attending the meet.
He said that there was an urgent need for the SSS to create a pressure group of cotton and soyabean farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions akin to the one the party had succeeded in creating for sugarcane growers in the ‘sugar belt’ districts of Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara in western Maharashtra.
“We have to take the farmers’ movement forward and create a platform for them. I want to keep working on farmers’ issues and resolve their problems more effectively,” Mr. Tupkar said.
At a recent meeting, Mr. Tupkar had openly hit out at Mr. Shetti, remarking that the party was “not someone’s public property” and that it was the ordinary worker who had helped grow the organisation.
Responding to him, Mr. Shetti said it would have been better had Mr. Tupkar come before the disciplinary committee and expressed whatever objections he may have had.
No groups, says Shetti
“There are no two groups within the party. The SSS works for all farmers on every issue pertaining to them. The organisation has always supported those who all have taken the lead on farmers’ issues,” Mr. Shetti said.
According to sources, Mr. Tupkar has been groomed as a potential candidate for the SSS in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, given his hold over Buldhana and other districts.
His disgruntlement follows a pattern of run-ins that Mr. Shetti has had with his close aides in the past. In 2017, Mr. Shetti expelled his closest aide Sadabhau Khot, the then Maharashtra Minister of State for Agriculture and Marketing, for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities.
Last year, the SSS’s lone MLA, Devendra Bhuyar, who won the Morshi seat in Amravati district in the 2019 Assembly election, was dismissed from the party for hobnobbing with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. Mr. Bhuyar later joined the NCP.
