Union minister Parshottam Rupala is facing a protracted agitation from the Kshatriya community owing to his remarks about erstwhile princely rulers. He is the BJP candidate for the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat. In what comes as a respite for him, organisations representing the Patidar community to which Rupala belongs, have started rallying around in support.
The Saurashtra unit of Sardar Patel Group on Thursday said that even though Rupala has apologised for his statements, sections of the Kshatriya community continue to protest his candidature. Kalpesh Raank, president of the group, issued a video statement saying that the Patidar community supports Rupala and the Kshatriya community must now end its protests as Rupala has apologised.
Using the hashtag #Rupala4Rajkot, Patidars posted messages on social media, supporting Rupala’s candidature.
Rupala confident
Rupala, who returned from Delhi on Thursday afternoon, said that all sections are with the BJP and many leaders from the Kshatriya community have announced that they are supporting him. He said he would not like to take names at the moment. He said he had expressed regret before the media and to leaders of the Kshatriya community as well. There was nothing more to be said in the matter.
Meanwhile, in Ahmedabad, leaders of the Maldhari Samaj announced their support to agitating members of the Kshatriya community, who are demanding that Rupala be replaced as the BJP candidate from Rajkot. Rajput community leader Padminiba Vala continued her hunger strike for the second day on Thursday in Rajkot, demanding that the BJP revoke Rupala’s candidature.
The Kshatriya community has been agitating against Rupala after a statement he made last month.
‘No magic wand’
State party president C R Paatil on Thursday said, “Talks with the leaders of the community are going on and we will succeed.”
Paatil wrote on X that he did not have a “magic wand”. In his message to BJP workers, Paatil, who was appointed Gujarat BJP chief in July 2020, wrote on X, “When I took over as party president, I said we would win eight out of eight seats (in eight Assembly bypolls). It was you people (party workers) who won all those eight seats. In the elections of taluka panchayat, district panchayat, municipalities, and municipal corporations too I claimed we would win more than 90% seats. We did win 90.5% seats. We won 31 out of 31 district panchayats.”
He added, “As party president, I do not have a magic wand. I made those statements based on the strength of BJP workers. I am confident that you will certainly prove my statement of winning all 26 seats by a margin of more than five lakh votes in the LS elections come true.”
Also Read: Why the BJP is worried about the Rupala controversy in Gujarat
