As the Rs 500-crore Panchamrut dairy (or Panchmahals District Cooperative Milk Union Ltd) goes to polls on Saturday, it is BJP versus BJP in the cooperative battle. On paper, it is three-sided contest with the Congress having its own panel.

But on field, it is former BJP Member of Parliament Bhupendrasinh Solanki against party Shehra MLA Jetha Bharwad. This time, the election has also shattered the myth that the cooperative sector is above political parties. Both the BJP and the Congress have come out openly against each other to support their panels.

Solanki issued an advertisement in local dailies on Diwali carrying Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s picture and asking the village milk society candidates to vote for the BJP. In the advertisement, they appealed to the chairmen of Panchamahal and Dahod district milk societies to vote for “kite” symbol of the BJP’s Vikas panel in the dairy election. It also carried the name of the candidates of the panel.

The advertisement mentioned senior leaders and ministers in the government such as Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Bharatsinh Parmar as the supporters of the panel headed by Solanki. Bharwad has also reportedly issued a similar advertisement claiming the support of Modi.

Sources in the dairy say the local MLAs are supporting Bharwad, while Solanki has the blessings of the higher ups.

This is probably the first time that party icon Modi has been used to garner support in the dairy cooperative sector. The support for Solanki was unexpected, as the BJP did not make him contest this Lok Sabha elections, curtailed his duties as a party member and even constituted a three-member committee on the board of the Panchamrut dairy in an effort to remove him as the chairman of the dairy.

... contd.