Praful Patel Tightens Grip on Gondia-Bhandara, Deals Twin Blows to Nana Patole in Cooperative Polls

Nagpur: In a political setback, senior Congress leader and former MPCC president Nana Patole lost control of the Gondia District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) to a BJP-NCP alliance led by NCP working president Praful Patel, deepening the long-standing rivalry between the two Vidarbha powerhouses.

Patel's 'Sahakar Vikas Panel' secured 11 out of 18 board seats in the DCCB elections held on June 29, while Patole's 'Parivartan Panel', backed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), managed only seven, with two seats going to independents. The result comes on the heels of another defeat for Patole's faction in the Bhandara Milk Union polls a day earlier, where Patel's side won six seats, Patole's panel got four, and two went to independents.

Patole, however, downplayed the defeat. "We gave them a tough fight in both polls. They were three against one. Still, we managed to defeat many of their key players," he told TOI from Mumbai.

The bank polls saw two candidates elected unopposed, while the remaining 16 seats witnessed a fierce triangular contest between the BJP-NCP-led Sahakar Panel, the MVA-backed Parivartan Panel, and independents. The outcome further consolidates Patel's growing influence across the cooperative sector in the Gondia-Bhandara belt — a region where Patole's recent electoral victories have not translated into institutional control.

Despite defeating Patel in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and narrowly retaining his seat in the 2024 assembly election — winning by just over 200 votes through postal ballots after trailing in the EVM count — Patole has struggled to assert dominance in the cooperative domain, according to party insiders. Meanwhile, Patel has steadily expanded his hold by forging strong alliances with BJP leaders such as Parinay Fuke.

Patole accused both Patel and Fuke of "misusing official machinery" and politicising cooperative institutions. At a press conference in Nagpur on June 20, Patole alleged that Patel was involved in aviation sector irregularities during his 2011–12 tenure as Union civil aviation minister in the UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Patel dismissed the allegations, calling Patole a "chillar neta" (petty leader), further intensifying the political acrimony.

In an effort to counter Patel's growing clout, Patole aligned with Shiv Sena MLA Narendra Bhondekar in the Milk Union elections. Though the alliance failed to yield results, Bhondekar later continued to support Patole in the DCCB elections.

The rivalry also played out publicly between Fuke and Bhondekar. Fuke accused Bhondekar of forgetting the political support he received, prompting Bhondekar to hit back in the presence of deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde in Bhandara. "We won't back down if challenged. I won on personal merit," he said.

These back-to-back electoral setbacks come at a crucial juncture for Patole, raising questions about his influence within the Congress and the MVA, especially as Maharashtra gears up for local body elections. For Patel, the results mark a strategic consolidation of cooperative power ahead of broader political contests in eastern Maharashtra.