Mohan Kundaliya’s election to the NAFED board came after four other candidates from Gujarat withdrew their candidature.
Mohan Kundaliya, former union minister and outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Rajkot, and Jetha Bharwad, vice-president of the Gujarat Congress, joined the National Agricultural Co-operative Union of India on Wednesday after member Magan Badaviya. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Association Marketing (NAFED). One member of the racing committee and three others withdrew from the race.
Kundaliya, who was not fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, was elected unopposed as director from the only Gujarat seat in the Principal Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) constituency. His election to the NAFED board came after four other candidates from Gujarat withdrew their candidature. They were Magan Badaviya, outgoing board member of NAFED and vice-chairman of Rajkot District Cooperative (RDC) Bank; Amrut Desai from Banaskantha district. Mahesh Patel from Sabarkantha district and Jashwant Patte from Kapadvani in Kheda.
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Bharwad, who is also the working chairman of Panchamahal District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (commonly known as Panchamrut Dairies), is the only candidate to have filed nomination from Gujarat’s only seat in the state union constituency. He was elected without a vote.
Bharwad is also a member of the board of directors of the Gujarat Cooperative Marketing Federation (Gujcomasol). Dilip Sanghani, the current chairman of Gujicomasor, is also the chairman of the Indian Agricultural Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and a member of the outgoing NAFED board.
Vadaviya said he withdrew his candidature in the spirit of cooperation. “This was a decision taken in the spirit of cooperation. I had not received any instructions from the BJP to withdraw from the race,” he told The Indian Express.
Both Vadaviya and Kundaliya hail from Morbi district adjoining Rajkot. Vadaviya was believed to be close to the late Virji Boda, a cooperative leader from Morbi who also served as NAFED chairman. Boda and Vadaviya were once cooperative leaders who swore allegiance to the Congress. In fact, Vadaviya challenged Kundaliya from Thankara in Morbi in the 2012 parliamentary elections, but failed to oust Kundaliya. Later, Badadviya, who was also the chairman of Morbi’s Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected to the NAFED board from the PACS constituency in 2019.
Kundaliya has also been selected to serve on the outgoing board, but said he had not received any mandate from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
© Indian Express Private Limited
Originally uploaded to: May 16, 2024, 07:53 IST
