BJP leader Shankar Mugad was on Friday elected unopposed as the new president of the Dharwad Milk Union which has jurisdiction over Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag and Uttara Kannada districts.
The election to the post of union president was necessitated after the board of directors passed a no-confidence motion against the earlier union president Basavaraj Arabgonda and voted him out. This is the for the second time that Mr. Mugad is being elected to the post.
On Friday, the election process began at 11 a.m. and the candidates had time till 1 p.m to file their nomination papers. As Mr. Mugad, backed by the BJP, was the only candidate to file his nomination papers within the stipulated time, he was declared as elected unopposed for a term of three years.
The decision to unseat Mr. Arabgonda was taken on June 12 after he failed to honour the earlier agreement of stepping down after the completion of him being two years in office. During the no-confidence motion, out of the 12 directors, 10 backed Mr. Mugad’s candidature, while two supported Mr. Arabgonda.
Speaking to presspersons after his election, Mr. Mugad said that he will work towards protecting the interests of milk producers and consumers. The issue of development requirements in the union will be taken up with the new Chief Minister, he said.
Two key projects, a milk procurement unit worth ₹90 crore with a capacity of one lakh litre milk at Haveri and the other, a unit worth ₹17 crore at Sirsi in Uttara Kannada to procure additional 50,000 litres of milk, are under progress now. Mr. Mugad said that the works will be expedited and completed soon.
