Replace Parshottam Rupala as BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Rajkot, demands Kshatriya community

The Kshatriya community in Gujarat has been adamant in its demand that Union minister Parshottam Rupala be replaced as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat and vowed to intensify their protest in the coming days, reported PTI on Monday.

The community has been agitating against Rupala’s candidature after he remarked on March 22 that erstwhile maharajas, or Kshatriya kings, had succumbed to foreign rulers like the British and forged ties with them. He said, during an election rally, that the kings broke bread with the foreign rulers and also married their daughters to them.

The Kshatriyas, also called Rajputs, have alleged that Rupala abused the daughters and sisters of the community.

The BJP leader has since apologised for his remarks.

On Sunday, the Kshatriya community held a public meeting at the Ratanpur village in the Rajkot district. This came after the ruling BJP announced that Rupala would file his nomination papers on April 16.

The voting in all 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7. The BJP had won all the seats in the state in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.

“We are firm on our demand for the withdrawal of Rupala’s candidature,” said Ramjubha Jadeja, a core...

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