Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said representatives of the local cooperative sector were "extremely happy" with various steps taken by the Centre for their benefit.
Those who exploited the cooperative sector for political gains never thought of creating a separate Ministry for it, and it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who set up the Cooperative Ministry, she told reporters on Saturday after concluding her three-day tour of the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra's Pune district.
Notably, Baramati is the home-turf of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the former Union agriculture minister whose party has a significant presence in the cooperative sector.