Shetti seeks to ‘rebuild’ his party, announces major organizational overhaul

Pune:

In a major organizational overhaul, Swabhimani Paksha chief Raju Shetti on Wednesday dissolved his party’s working committee with a view to rebuild the party organization before the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls. Shetti announced his decision at a meeting of party leaders and workers in Solapur.

The farmers’ leader further said that fresh internal elections would be conducted over the next two months at the district and state levels.

 “The two-year tenure of most of the office bearers has come to an end. So, this move to dissolve the present leadership has been taken with a view to build the organization anew. By January 11 next year, we will have a new leadership at the village level and by February 11, we will see a leadership at the State level,” Shetti, stating that the revamp would also see the establishment of a disciplinary committee at the divisional level.

The former two-time MP from Hatkanangale (in Kolhapur district) said that the exercise would also factor in the allocation of responsibilities to be given to new entrants within the party fold and fresh tasks to allotted to experienced leaders. Shetti, formerly a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government, had severed ties with the BJP in 2017.

While, Shetti supported the NCP and the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, the alliance proved costly for him as he was defeated by the Shiv Sena’s Dhairyasheel Mane in a major upset. After an unspectacular showing in the Parliamentary polls in May this year, Shetti recouped somewhat with his party winning a single seat in the recently concluded Assembly polls.The Swabhimani Paksha’s lone MLA Devendra Bhuyar had emerged as a ‘giant killer’ to defeat BJP leader and State Agriculture Minister, Anil Bonde from the Morshi Assembly segment in Amravati.

“The organization overhaul is being carried out with the aim to form a new, young leadership drawn from the youthful ranks of the party. We are hoping to send more legislators to the Assembly and an MP to the Lok Sabha at the time of the 2024 polls,” said Swabhimani Paksha leader, Anil Pawar.

Meanwhile, Shetti said that his party would support the Shiv Sena- Congress-NCP’s ‘Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA) government, but that he would not himself seek the key Agriculture ministry portfolio.

“We will accept it (Agriculture portfolio) only in the event my party is respectfully offered it without any conditions attached,” he reiterated. Speculation has recently arisen over Agriculture ministry portfolio being offered to Shetti, who had denied that a concrete offer in this regard had yet to come from the three big parties.