Vadodara District Milk Producers Cooperative Union had recently filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court urging the court to direct the Anand Collector to hold an immediate election for the post of chairman of GCMMF.
The court has asked the Collector to announce the elections and complete the poll process within two weeks.
It is noteworthy that the tenure of the GCMMF chairman had come to an end already in June but the Anand Collector had been delaying the announcement of elections. The delay had caused all manners of speculation fraying nerves in the cooperative circles in Gujarat.
Parthi Bhatol, the current Chairman had a tumultuous tenure. Ram Sinh Parmar joined by Vipul Chaudhary had kept him on tenterhooks for the major part of his tenure. It is only for the last couple of years that he had smooth sailing.
Whether Bhatol would fight or not is not clear as he is keeping his cards close to his chest. He does not want to appear as a greedy cooperator hankering after positions. Especially before the chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Narendra Modi favoured him last time as he was looked upon as a simple man. But things have changed since. His opponents have leveled various acts of omission and commission against him in Banas dairy which has hogged the headlines in local dailies.
Bhatol had contested corruption charges in the pages of Indian Cooperative and had cited the fast growth rate of Banas as proof of his competence. But ghost of Banas dairy is sure to haunt him either in his selection as the future candidate of GCMMF or in the final election if he is chosen as a candidate by the BJP.
Vipul Chaudhary ,Chairman of Dudhsagar is another potent candidate. He also belongs to BJP and has strong lineage.
Which way the party High Command thinks is a matter of speculation for all. The Court’s judgment in this background is sure to lead to intense politicking.
Campaign would pick up momentum once the date of the election is announced. GCMMF has 16 voters, 15 of them belong to the dairy cooperatives and one vote belongs to the Registrar of the Gujarat cooperatives. In the last election there were 13 votes but two more cooperative federations have joined since adding to the votes.
Those contesting the election for the Chairmanship of GCMMF would have to keep an eye on four members as they are treated as floating votes. They could switch sides easily. This includes Manu Patel of Surat Dairy, Jetha Patel of Sabarkatha dairy, Shankar Singh Rana of Gandhi Nagar dairy and Baba Parmar of Surendra Nagar dairy.