GCMMF chairman election tomorrow

Vadodara, Apr 25 (UNI) The election to the post of Chairman of the Rs 3600-crore Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) is all set for a royal battle tomorrow with the eleven elected members of the Board failing to find a consensus candidate for the post to succeed Dr Verghese Kurien.

The Board members, who are sharply divided on the issue, are however meeting tonight in the milk city of Anand in a last minute bid to unanimously elect one amongst them as the chairman as it was very essential in the interests of the 2.4 million member farmers associated with the 33-year-old Federation, the largest dairy co-operative in the country.

Though four of the Board members are keen to contest the post, intense fight is likely between Amul Dairy chairman Ramsinh Parmar and Mehsana's Dudhsagar Dairy chairman Vipul Chaudhary, who belonged to the Dr Kurien camp.

This is for the first time in the 33-year-old history of GCMMF, a person other than Dr Kurien is going to head the GCMMF as its chairman.

The election is scheduled to be held at the Federation's office in Anand tomorrow at 11:00 hours.

The post of the chairman was lying vacant since March 20 when Dr Kurien, who was heading GCMMF since its inception in 1973, resigned from his post in the wake of a rebellion in the Board against him.

Before being closeted with other Board members to find a consensus candidate for the chairman's post, Amul Dairy chairman Mr Parmar however expressed optimism about a possible compromise on the issue to unanimously elect a person to the coveted post, provided the Gujarat government did not interfere in the matter.

UNI SS RL VP2217