Supporters of Dinesh Patel, former two-term BJP MLA from Padra, thronged to the Baroda Dairy to celebrate his “re-election” as the diary's chairman on Thursday, a year after he had quit the party to contest as a rebel candidate in the Assembly polls. Patel's re-election as the chairman comes after he was re-inducted in the BJP by state party chief C R Paatil in Padra on September 3. As BJP state vice-president Gordhan Zadafiya arrived in Vadodara on Thursday with the mandate for Dinesh Patel alias Dinu Mama, it was a matter of formality before he was re-elected to the post with 11 votes in his favour. He had previously held the post from 2014 to January, this year. After being re-elected, Patel posed for pictures with BJP MLAs from Vadodara district, including Padra MLA Chaitanyasinh Zala, against whom he had contested in the December 2022 polls as a rebel candidate and resigned as Baroda Dairy chairman following defeat. Speaking to mediapersons, with Baroda Dairy Vice-Chairman G B Solanki by his side, Patel said: "I have been the president (of Baroda Dairy) since 2014. I will work for the betterment of milk producers. We have completed the Rs 200-crore Bodeli project without taking loan of a single penny and will continue to work in the same way. There will never be injustice against milk farmers under my leadership." The way for Patel's re-election had been paved on October 31 when Satish Patel – also the president Vadodara district BJP – had "voluntarily" resigned, four months after being elected as chairman of the dairy, citing that the "party had directed him to choose one of his two positions under the one party one post policy". While reinducting Patel in September, Paatil had said that the suspended leader had been allowed a return as he had "accepted his mistake". "Dinu Mama is aging. When he was in the (Baroda) Dairy (as chairman), he ensured that milk producers were not treated unjustly and the accounts were well maintained. He understood his mistake (in rebelling against the party) and we have discussed that it should not happen again. So. we have decided to include him back into the party," Paatil had said. The Baroda Dairy has also been a bone of contention between two BJP camps - with Savli BJP MLA Ketan Inamdar leading a protest of milk producers, alleging malpractice against the management. After a showdown in January, G B Solanki had resigned, expressing “anguish” over Inamdar's allegations. Solanki was re-elected during the regular elections held on July 3.
