Maharashtra-based farmers' union Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and its political wing, the Swabhimani Paksha, are in the middle of a political storm as senior party leader Ravikant Tupkar has rebelled against the leadership of former MP and party founder Raju Shetti. Party leaders said Tupkar had gone incommunicado, refusing to attend meetings of the party over the last few weeks. This came amid talks of him being in close contact with both the BJP and the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Shetti told The Indian Express that Tupkar had stopped answering calls. Hailing from the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, Tupkar was made the chairperson of the Textile Development Corporation in 2014 when the party was part of the Devendra Fadnavis-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Tupkar resigned when Shetti parted ways with the BJP in 2018 and joined the NCP-Congress alliance. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Tupkar started preparing to contest from Buldhana before the NCP leadership intervened and got him to withdraw his nomination. The undivided Shiv Sena went on to win the seat that year. Tupkar, who spoke to The Indian Express, said he had raised serious questions about how the farmers’ union and the party were being run. “Along with other senior leaders, I raised questions in front of Shetti on how the party was being run. However, no corrective measures were taken. Over the last three years, more than 200 senior leaders of the Sanghatana have left us, which should have alarmed the party and the union. But no action was taken,” he said. Asked which party between the BJP and the NCP he would join, Tupkar said, “I am a member of the Sanghatana and I will continue to work with it.” Leaders close to Shetti alleged that Tupkar was trying to take charge of the outfit the same way Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde had done within the NCP and the Shiv Sena, respectively. “All these allegations are being levelled against me to divert the people's attention from the main topic — the problem of leadership in the union and the party,” said Tupkar. Formed by Shetti to fight the cause of cane growers, the farmer’s union has a strong presence in the west Maharashtra sugar bowl. Shetti twice won the Hatkangale Lok Sabha constituency in Kolhapur district before losing to Dhairyasheel Mane of the then-undivided Shiv Sena in 2019. During the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, Devendra Bhuyar of the Sanghatana made history by winning the Morshi seat in Amravati district. Bhuyar was later evicted from the organisation and recently joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. After Shetti, Tupkar is the most visible face of the party. Given that he is from the dominant Maratha community, Tupkar has managed to carve a following among the younger lot of farm leaders. On Monday, the Sanghatana called Tupkar for a meeting, which he did not attend. Shetti said he had been given another chance to air his views before the disciplinary committee meets on August 15. On his part, Tupkar said he had yet to get the official invitation for the meeting. “Let the intimation come, I'll see what to do. All my grievances are known to them. Yet, they chose to not address them,” he said.
