On Wednesday, February 14, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled another list featuring seven names for the upcoming Rajya Sabha Elections. Among the nominees are party president JP Nadda from Gujarat and newly inducted leader Ashok Chavan from Maharashtra. The BJP's latest announcement includes four names from Gujarat and three from Maharashtra.
In addition to JP Nadda, the BJP has nominated Mayanbhai Nayak and Jashvantsinh Parmar from Gujarat, along with Govindbhai Dholakia, a Surat-based diamond merchant known as one of the richest businessmen in the city.
Who Is Govindbhai Dholakia?
Govindbhai Dholakia, affectionately referred to as 'Kaka' by locals, is renowned for his generosity, notably for giving cars or bikes as Diwali bonuses (gifts) to his employees. Dholakia is the owner of Shree Ramakrishna Exporting Pvt. Ltd. (SRK Exports), a prominent diamond merchant in Gujarat's Surat. Last year, he gifted rooftop solar panels to 1000 employees as a Diwali bonus, providing them with free power for 25 years.
Born into a poor agricultural family of seven siblings in the remote village of Dudhala, Gujarat, Dholakia embarked on his journey in 1964 to Surat to support his family. In 1970, he founded Shree Ram Krishna Exports (SRK), now a leading diamond crafting company. On April 12, 2011, the auspicious day of Ram Navami, Dholakia's dream came to fruition with the inauguration of the state-of-the-art diamond crafting facility, "SRK Empire," in Surat. The facility, spanning over 2,50,000 sq.ft, was inaugurated by Ms. Varda Shine, the then CEO of Diamond Trading Company (DTC), along with colleagues from De Beers Group and the Diamond Trading Company (DTC). In 2017, Dholakia further expanded the production capacity by inaugurating a new facility named "SRK House" in Surat, Gujarat.
Meanwhile, February 15 will be the last date for filing nominations, while February 20 is the last date to withdraw candidature. As per the established practice, while voting will take place from 9 AM to 4 pm, the counting will be held on the same day from 5 pm onwards. While 50 members retire on April 2, six do so on April 3, the EC said.