Gujarat’s new Speaker Shankar Chaudhary: Milk cooperative big shot who once took on Shankersinh Vaghela

Chaudhary served as a junior minister in CM Anandiben Patel’s government, holding the health and urban development portfolio. It signalled his return and rise in the state’s political firmament. In 2015, he defeated Parthi Bhathol to become the chairman of Banas Dairy, considered Asia’s largest dairy co-operative. It has an annual turnover of over Rs 15,000 crore and is a part of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).

In the 2017 Assembly polls, when BJP returned its lowest tally in decades, Chaudhary lost to the Congress’s Geniben Thakor from the seat of Vav in the north Gujarat district of Banaskantha. He won this time from the constituency of Tharad in Banaskantha.

The Speaker belongs to the powerful OBC Chaudhary community, many of whom now control the dairy sector. The Banas Dairy has four plants in Uttar Pradesh, including the plant in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, that were set up during Chaudhary’s time. The dairy also has plants in Kanpur, Faridabad, and Lucknow.

Chaudhary is also a director of the Banaskantha District Central Co-operative Bank, making him a powerful leader of Gujarat’s cooperative system.

That Chaudhary, who was viewed as a rising star in the BJP, was not given a ministry when the new Cabinet was declared days ago, came as a surprise to many, given that while campaigning for him Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said, “You give your votes to Shankarbhai and make him an MLA; this party will do the work of making him an important person.”

Chaudhary has now resigned from the primary membership of the BJP to become the Speaker of the 15th Gujarat Assembly, which will see the smallest Opposition in 37 years, with just 22 seats.