The Hindu : Karnataka News : BJP nominee set to bag KMF post

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 13, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

BJP nominee set to bag KMF post

B.S. Satish Kumar and S. Rajendran

Turnover of KMF
is Rs. 3,200 crore
a year
Its daily payment
to dairy farmers
is Rs. 4.5 crore

Bangalore: Having won the elections in eight of the 12 district milk unions, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has exuded confidence that it will also be successful in getting its nominee elected as chairman of the prestigious Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), an organisation that has virtually been built and controlled by the Janata Dal (Secular) for nearly 15 years.

The turnover of the KMF (inclusive of milk unions) is around Rs. 3,200 crore a year and its daily payment to dairy farmers is around Rs. 4.5 crore.

There are 13 milk unions in the State and the KMF is the umbrella body.

In the 18-member KMF board, one representative from each of the milk unions is nominated as director, apart from three official nominees of the Government. The KMF board also has a nominee of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB),apart from the KMF managing director.

While the NDDB nominee generally stays away from the election to the post of KMF chairman, the KMF managing director has no voting rights.

The three government nominees on the KMF board are the Principal Secretary, State Department of Animal Husbandry, the Director of Animal Husbandry and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who will vote in accordance with government directions.

In the present scenario, 17 directors (elections have not been held for the Gulbarga-Bidar union) have the right to vote, and any director who obtains nine votes will be the chairman.

On its side, the BJP has 13 votes, and therefore a victory for it is a foregone conclusion.

The implementation of the Rs. 2 per litre milk incentive scheme for the benefit of dairy farmers, announced by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in the last budget, seems to have tilted the scales in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

It should also be noted that the ruling party had worked overtime to attain supremacy in the milk unions, which in recent years have attained considerable clout in the rural sector.

Meanwhile, Bellary MLA Somashekar Reddy, has been elected as representative to the KMF board from the Raichur-Bellary-Koppal Milk Union and is said to be eyeing the post of chairman.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka