The BJP has surprised everyone by selecting Shankar Chaudhary, the MLA from Tharad in Banaskantha, as Speaker of the 15th Gujarat Assembly, along with Shehra MLA Jetha Bharwad as Deputy Speaker.
It is pertinent to note that both Chaudhary and Bharwad were caught watching an “objectionable” clip during the Assembly session in 2012. Chaudhary, 52, a prominent politician from North Gujarat, is a big name in ‘dairy sector politics’. The chairman of Banas Dairy, he is a rival to another controversial leader and a fellow Chaudhary, Vipul.
Shankar Chaudhary won the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections by a margin of more than 25,000 votes. Vipul Chaudhary, recently out on bail, was imprisoned for alleged irregularities during his tenure as chairman of the Dudhsagar Dairy.
Shankar Chaudhary had been a minister in the Anandiben Patel-led BJP government. He had had his fair share of controversies, and lost the 2017 Assembly elections against Congress’ firebrand leader Geniben.
In the run-up to the Assembly elections this year, Banaskantha was on top priority of the BJP high command. Not only did PM Modi visit Banaskantha more than once, Home Minister Amit Shah publicly urged the voters to elect Shankar Chaudhary, promising that he will be given an important post.
The four affidavits that Shankar Chaudhary filed during the last four Assembly elections throw up interesting information. These are:
Property: Shankar Chaudhary is possessing land worth Rs 1.30 crore whereas his wife’s land holdings amount to Rs 78 lakh.
LIC: The Chaudhary couple is having LIC policies worth Rs 50 lakh each.
Cash and Bank Balance: In 2007, Chaudhary declared Rs 3.51 lakh in cash and in bank balance. In 2022, the amount has risen up to Rs 86 lakh.
Similarly, Rs 60,000 was declared as cash and in bank balance against the name of Mrs Premila Shankar Chaudhary, which went up to Rs 143 lakh in the 2022 affidavit.
The affidavits filed by Shankar Chaudhary show discrepancies with regards to his education as well. In 2007, he declared SSC as his educational qualification. In 2012, he mentioned SSC, HSC and MBA from a private institution as his qualifications. By the time he filed the 2012 affidavit, he added DBA as his qualification for reporting.
As per his submission, he cleared SSC in 1987, HSC in 2011, MBA in 2009 and DBA in 2007. There is no mention of his graduation details. Surprisingly, he claims to have received his MBA degree prior to his HSC certification, which is chronologically problematic.
In the affidavit filed for this year’s Assembly elections, he mentioned only one educational degree – an MA from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. Though, the record still remained silent about his graduation degree.
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