Parthi Bhatol, Chairman of Banas dairy, was today re-elected as the Chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns Amul brand.
Bhatol, who was earlier also the Chairman of the federation which has a turnover of Rs 6700 crore, and Mehsana dairy Chairman Vipul Chaudhary were serious contenders for the top post.
Chaudhary himself proposed the name of Bhatol during the election, which was seconded by Anand district union Chairman Ramsinh Parmar, said GCMMF sources.
Bhatol had taken the reigns of the federation following Verghese Kurien, father of white revolution in the country, was forced to quit the federation.
There are 13 district unions in the federation chairman of the each district union is the director of the federation.
There are 661 votes in the federation in which BJP camp has 342 votes, Congress 113 votes and 206 others, not directly associated with any party.
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GCMMF has a unique voting pattern where the directors cast number of votes proportionate to the milk procurement of their respective district unions.
Battle for the Chairman of GCMMF, had become so important for the ruling party BJP in the state that top leaders and ministers including agriculture and co-operative minister Dilip Sanghani, Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, former Agriculture Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama were camping in Anand when the election was conducted.
Mehsana dairy Chairman Vipul Chaudhary, Vadodara dairy Chairman Madhu Srivastav, Panchmahal dairy Chairman Bhupendrasinh Solanki are from the BJP while Anand dairy Chairman Ramsinh Parmar, Rajkot dairy chairman Govindbhai Ranparia are from Congress.