Kanu Desai boards Rupala wagon, apologises to Koli Patel community
Updated: May 6th, 2024
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), already on thin ice with the Rupala controversy, landed in another trouble over the statements against the Koli Patel community, made by Gujarat's finance minister Kanu Desai.
Desai, however, said that it was a saying in the Valsadi dialect, and the clip that has enraged the community was cut short. "If people were to see the full clip, I'm sure no feelings would be hurt," said Desai.
Apologising for his statement on May 6, he said, "If the community was offended by my statement, I apologise straight from the heart."
Apologising in a video, Desai said that his association with the Koli Patel community goes way back in Valsad. He said that the video clip, which is trimmed deliberately, was taken at a public gathering of the community.
In a video that went viral, the Koli youth from Bhavnagar was seen protesting and chanting anti-Desai slogans. Sources also suggested a similar protest in Surendranagar.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Kshatriya Sankalan Samiti, who is already protesting agains BJP over Parshottam Rupala’s comments on Rajputs, expressed support to the Koli Patel community and said that all preparations are underway to vote against the BJP on May 7.
According to reports, a public gathering will be held in Rajkot’s Jasdan today, where the Koli community will also be joined by a large number of Kshatriyas, and the community will submit an application against Desai to Mamlatdar at 11 a.m.
Also read:
