GCMMF Chairman Vipul Cahaudhary has confused his detractors by publicly touching the feet of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The occasion was Gujarat New Year. However, his opponents see it as a classic case of political opportunism.
He is caught between devil and deep blue sea, said a detractor on condition of anonymity.He hobnobs with Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar and wants to keep Modi also in good humour. But it would backfire as sailing two boats at a time never pays off”, he added.
Earlier, at the inaugural ceremony of Amul Virar Dairy near Bombay Vipul Chaudhary rubbished all allegations being made against him by his colleagues.
Significantly, the function offered him an opportunity to break his silence as refusal to talk about allegations had been interpreted as a sign of his guilt. He defended all his decisions including giving away cattle feed worth crores for free to Maharashtra and went as far as insinuating that the functionaries of the GCMMF have failed to use the full capacities of the dairy unions of Gujarat.
Chaudhary is also the head of Mehsana Dairy Union. Mr. Chaudhary has just survived a no-confidence motion as the matter has gone to court. Earlier 14 out of 17 board members had requisitioned a meeting to debate a no confidence motion against him.
Speculation is rife that Vipul Chaudhary has mounted a serious bid to get chairmanship of the National Dairy Development Board and this explained why he was working overtime getting closer to union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar at the inaugural function of Amul Virar dairy.
However, in an unexpected reference to GCMMF’s Managing Director R S Sodhi, Chaudhary took his name from the dais and asked him to take steps that keep private dairies and milk mafia away.
“When we (cooperative sector) have our own plants, we should ensure that their entire capacities are fully utilized,” said Chaudhary, who later claimed that federation is not fully utilizing capacities of Dharuhera plant set up by Mehsana Dairy in Haryayan and even the Amul Virar Dairy plant set up by Amul Dairy.