Jethabhai Patel re-elected Amul chief

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation — Asia’s largest milk cooperative and apex marketing body of 17 dairy unions of Gujarat that sells milk and milk products under brandname Amul — on Wednesday elected Jethabhai Patel as its chairman.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, the apex marketing body of 17 dairy unions in the state, on Wednesday re-elected Jethabhai Patel as its chairman.

He was unanimously chosen at the election held in GCMMF headquarters at Anand and would hold the position at the Rs 21,000 crore cooperative for the next two and a half years.  The chairmans of all the 17 district dairy unions in Gujarat who constitute the GCMMF board elect one of their own to the helm of the apex body.

Besides the chairmans, the board also consists of a cooperative registrar and GCMMF managing director. With 16 of the 17 dairy cooperatives under BJP control, the state government has a considerable say in the election of GCMMF’s chairman. Patel’s re-election came after reaching a compromise with chairman of Panchamrut Dairy Jethabhai Bharwad, who also wanted chairman’s position claiming that he had the support of Saurashtra unions.

However, Bharwad faced opposition from three of the powerful unions one led by Jethabhai Patel, ex-GCMMF chief and Banas Dairy chairman Parthi Bhatol and Amul Dairy chairman and Congress leader Ramsinh Parmar.