Vadodara: Ending nearly five months of uncertainty, the Baroda District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited, popularly known as Baroda Dairy, on Tuesday re-elected BJP leader and former Padra MLA Dinesh Patel, alias Dinu Mama, as its chairman. G B Solanki was elected vice-chairman.The election to the two top posts was held nearly five months after the board of directors’ election concluded in March, with the BJP-backed panel securing a comfortable majority. The delay had triggered speculation in cooperative circles, though the eventual outcome was largely seen as a formality.Ahead of the election, BJP held a consensus-building exercise among its elected directors before finalising Patel and Solanki for the top posts. The party’s decision was conveyed by cooperation cell coordinator Bipin Patel, following which the election was completed before the designated election officer.With his re-election, Patel will continue to head one of Central Gujarat’s largest cooperative institutions, which has an annual turnover of around Rs 1,400 crore.“This responsibility is not new to me. We will continue the work that has been undertaken so far,” Patel said after being re-elected.Patel, popularly known as Dinu Mama, first entered the Gujarat assembly in 2007 after winning the Padra seat as an Independent candidate. He later joined BJP and retained the seat in 2012, before losing in 2017. After being denied a BJP ticket for the 2022 assembly election, he rebelled against the party and contested as an Independent once again but was defeated. He rejoined BJP in 2023.The leadership election comes amid renewed scrutiny of the functioning of several village milk cooperative societies. A day before the Baroda Dairy election, notices under Section 81 of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1965, were issued to 10 village milk cooperatives represented by Baroda Dairy directors, including societies headed by Patel and Solanki.Section 81 empowers the district registrar to initiate proceedings against the managing committee of a cooperative society in cases involving alleged persistent irregularities, violations of the Cooperative Societies Act or bylaws, or actions deemed detrimental to the interests of the society or its members. The notices seek explanations as to why the committees should not be superseded and administrators appointed.During the previous term, Baroda Dairy had witnessed intense internal differences, with BJP MLA Ketan Inamdar publicly raising allegations concerning its administration.
