Times of India reports that after much delay and legal wrangles, elections for the new board of the Kheda District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union popularly known as Amul Dairy will be held in May in Anand.
It was from Amul Dairy that the White Revolution took off in the country leading to creation of other district cooperative milk producer unions.
Amul Dairy’s polls are crucial for both, the Congress and BJP. A member union of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – the apex marketing body of all the dairy unions of Gujarat – Amul Dairy is the last fortress of Congress among dairy cooperatives in the state. BJP has successfully made inroads in all the milk cooperatives. The election at the dairy union is due since 2012.
Despite pulling all the strings, BJP had failed to wrest control of the dairy union in which two Congress MLAs – Ramsinh Parmar from Thasra and Rajendrasinh Parmar from Borsad – are holding top posts of chairman and vice-chairman respectively.
Ramsinh, who is director at Amul Dairy’s board since 1974, is eyeing the dairy’s chairmanship for the fifth consecutive term, while Rajendrasinh will be contesting for a third term to retain dairy’s vice-chairmanship.
The elections so far had faced legal hurdles after the Gujarat state registrar of cooperatives in 2012 directed all dairy unions of the state to give equal representation to all talukas of the district under their respective jurisdictions.