Union Minister and Rajkot BJP candidate Parshottam Rupala has again made a public apology after voting in Gujarat ended on Tuesday.
Rupala’s remarks on the Kshatriya community during the early days of his campaign did not go well and there were protests against him. After the BJP high command did not meet the Kshatriya community’s demand to change Rupala’s candidature, the community announced a statewide protest.
Rajkot BJP and Purshottam Rupala organised a press meet at Kamalam, Rajkot.
During the meeting, Rupala once again apologised to the Kshatriya community.
He said “I am passing through the most difficult time of my public life of 40 years. My one remark has generated huge waves during the election. This is the most painful period of my life.”
Talking to the audience Rupala said, “Usually my speech is encouraging and inspiring for others. But, this time my speech had adverse effects for the entire party.”
Rupala said that, “Since I am a human being, I am bound to make mistakes. Now that voting is over, you can understand that this is not a political apology. I am apologising from my heart.”
It is to be noted that Rupala has apologised at least thrice in public after his remarks at an unscheduled meeting near Rajkot. However, the Kshatriya community did not accept any apology and influenced community members and others to vote against the BJP.
According to Kshatriya leaders, almost 85% of the community have cross-voted during the voting on 7th May.
Apart from Rajkot, they will influence the result on seats like Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Kutchh, Anand and Kheda which have Kshatriya dominance.
In the meantime, Kshatriya leaders have uttered today that this is just a pause in their protest. “It should not be judged as a full-stop, but as a coma instead. We will soon decide on the future course of action which will be disciplined and with wisdom.”
Rupala publicly accepted in the meeting that he was the centre of this entire episode. That he is the only person responsible for this dispute, and nobody else. In the meeting, Rupala was accompanied by Saurashtra BJP Spokesperson Raju Dhruv and Rajkot BJP President Mukesh Doshi.
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