The representatives of the Socialist Party (SNP) Miloš Ostojić and Tamara Cmiljanić and the representative of the Bosniak Party Emir Bidžan yesterday elected Mihail Potpara, who until now was the head of the economic affairs sector in the largest Pljevan company, as the executive director of the Coal Mine (RUP). Members of the URA Civic Movement in the Board of Directors, Tanja Šljivančanin and Vasilije Miličić, voted for the current director, Milan Lekić.
In last year's local elections in Pljevlja, Potpara was on the list of the coalition Democrats, Movement for Pljevlja and United Montenegro.
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Before the session, citizens gathered in front of the administrative building of RUP, demanding that Milan Lekić be appointed as executive director, who was dismissed from the position of executive director at the end of August after the inspection determined that he was elected illegally in April 2021 - without public announcement .
The invitation to citizens for yesterday's gathering and support for Lekić was sent by the self-proclaimed Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the Serbian People in Montenegro, whose work is not known to the general public, nor who are its founders. Lekić is the president of the Municipal Board of Nova in Pljevlja.
Among those gathered was the President of the Municipality of Pljevlja, Dario Vraneš, who called on the Board of Directors to elect Lekić as director and "not to play with the people and the fate of the people of Pljevlja".
"In the Municipality of Pljevlja, the time has finally come for the people of Pljevlja to decide. We have well-founded suspicions that some informal power centers from Podgorica and Beran want to shape our destiny here. We will not and must not allow it. That is the essence of the whole story. The essence of the story is not whether Milan Lekić will be director for another year and a half or not, but this is a question of existence for all of us. That's the whole problem. Some new Pljevljas have arrived and they have to get used to them. We have returned to our dignity, which we always had, which was shaken for thirty years", said Vraneš.
When asked who the informal centers are, Vraneš told reporters that he was referring to the Minister of Sports Dragoslav Dada Šćekić (SNP).
"Two representatives of the Board of Directors, Miloš Ostojić and Tamara Cmiljanić, said that they had to do as Dado Šćekić told them. Let Dado Šćekić forget that he manages Pljevlja", said Vraneš, adding that most of the other candidates who applied for the competition "are people who are Podgorica's henchmen and who were in the DPS until yesterday, and a good number of them were accused of criminal acts, and that they don't trust those people".
When asked if he was abusing the position of the President of the Municipality by influencing the members of the Board of Directors to vote for Lekić, Vraneš said that he was not abusing it and that the protest was not attended by representatives of one political party, but by people of various political persuasions, nations and religions.
After learning that Lekić was not elected as a director, Vraneš invited the President of the Board of Directors of the Coal Mine, Miloš Ostojić, to address the citizens and explain, as he said, what he had done.
"Shame on you Miloš Ostojić, shame on you Tamara (Cmiljanić). We helped people wherever we worked together, what are you doing with the people of Pljevlja. It is better for a man not to be alive than for the police to have to protect him from his fellow citizens. This is the new Pljevlja and remember you in Podgorica, Berane that there is no playing with the people of Pljevlja. This is not the end, there will be a new Board of Directors and we will meet again", said the first man of the city.
Milan Lekić also addressed the citizens, pointing out that the executive director was elected today by people who did not deserve it.
"All this was done by Dado Šćekić and I think that somewhere he traded with someone for his place in the government. They invented a place for him and he was supported in my opinion to do what he did today through his members. That's my guess. Most likely, those who decided today will not have much time to decide in the future. There is time to fix it. This decision is not from the agreement of the new Government. I think that none of the members of the Board of Directors who made the decision today will be in a future convocation of the Board of Directors of RUP", said Lekić.
He said that he has information that, according to the agreement of the new government, the position of executive director went to the coalition For the Future of Montenegro, and the position of president of the Board of Directors to PES.
The director of the Secondary Vocational School, Bojan Strunjaš, said that Ostojić, who was recently elected president of the Board of Directors, is advocating for the mine to be closed on behalf of his NGO.
And Strunjaš said that it was all done under the pressure of Dad Šćekić.
"From here we are telling Šćekić that we said no to Milo Đukanović and that we will say no to him as well. We openly call on Miloš Ostojić and Tamara Cmiljanić that they have no right to betray their people. We are waiting for them here. They should come out in front of all of us with their foreheads visibly raised. I invite all the workers of the coal mine, all the people of Pljevlja, invite all the families, invite people to leave our villages. We are not leaving here until Milan Lekić is elected as director of RUP. Lekić stopped the theft in RUP and that is why we support him. There is no retreat and we will not part ways," said Strunjaš.
Less than an hour after learning that Lekić was not elected as director, the gathered citizens dispersed.
In last year's local elections in Pljevlja, Potpara was on the list of the coalition Democrats, Movement for Pljevlja and United Montenegro
Rovčanin congratulated the election of Potpara
The Executive Director of Elektroprivreda (EPCG) Nikola Rovčanin congratulated RUP and all employees on his Facebook profile on behalf of the energy company on the election of the Executive Director.
"I am convinced that Mihailo Potpara, as a true professional, will lead the company in the next four years to the satisfaction of the workers, Pljevlja, EPCG Group and the state of Montenegro," wrote Rovčanin.
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