Despite his best efforts, Panchamrut Dairy’s chairman Jetha Bharwad could not succeed and the state apparatus was compelled to support Sabar Dairy’s chairman Jetha Patel. The latter emerged victorious claiming a term of 3 years as Chairman of GMMMF.
Wednesday, when the election for the chairman’s post was held in the Anand-headquartered GCMMF, Patel was a unanimous choice.
Mr R S Sodhi, MD of GCMMF said Patel was elected unanimously but Indian Cooperative has learnt that the election was not all it was cracked up to be.
Jetha Bharwad had played his cards well and was able to garner the support of about eleven milk unions. Even the state BJP government, which controls 16 of the 17 milk unions was on his side but the trio of Jetha , Parthi and Ramsinh was not able to digest his candidature.
They represented the three biggest dairy unions of Gujarat. In the complex voting rights of GCMMF where your vote share is decided by the business you do with the parent body (GCMMF), they had substantial clout.
They had allegedly threatened that if Bharwad gets the backing of the BJP-ruled state government they will be forced to announce one of them a candidate for the post. Since all of them except Ramsinh Parmar belonged to the BJP fold, the state leadership decided not to aggravate the matter and face embarrassment.
A not so media-savvy Jetha Patel excused himself on the pretext of his mobile phone being weak with batteries when this correspondent phoned him. But Parthi Bhai Patel was more forthcoming when he said since Jetha is a son of a farmer he was the most suitable candidate.
On question of seeking Ramsinh Parmar’s support , a known congressman, Parthi bhai said in cooperative party considerations are irrelevant especially if one has the good of organization in heart.
Jetha Bhai Patel was earlier elected as GCMMF’s chairman in August last after the unceremonious exit of Vipul Chaudhary in a no-confidence motion in the wake of corruption charges.