Gandhinagar: Under the leadership of its Gujarat unit chief, CR Patil, the saffron party is conquering one cooperative body in the state after another in the recent past. Patil had introduced a mechanism under which only those with party’s mandate can contest cooperatives elections. Patil has enforced resignations of several bigwig cooperative leaders in the recent past for holding multiple posts. Only those with party’s mandate can contest cooperative election and if someone rebels, he/she is suspended from the party.

With GUJCOMASOL already in its kitty, the BJP has now also wrested control of the Gujarat State Regulated Bazaar Union, which is the governing body for the 224 APMCs in the state. Chairman of Bhavnagar’s Mahua APMC, Ghanshyam Patel, has been declared the winner for the post of President without a contest while the chairman of Bardoli APMC, Bhikhabhai Patel, has been declared the winner of the vice-president’s post (also without contest).

The Union looks after the interests of farmers, merchants and institutions, while also taking decisions for allocating land to APMCs, training staff members and is also responsible for coming up with model market plans. DeshGujarat.