Vimal Chudasama—one of the two Congress MLAs from the Saurashtra region—Saturday raised eyebrows as he asserted that he wanted to be a Koli first rather than a worker of the grand old party. Solely serving a political party causes “loss” to the community one hails, he added. “Hun jaher manch uparthi kahu chhu ke hun Congress no raheva nathi mangto, mara Koli samajno raheva mangu chhu. Ane chokkas rite kahish ke jyare samajna dikra tarike rajnitima jata hoi tyare rajnitino manas banine nahi revanu, samajna dikra tarike revanu. (I assert this from this public stage that I want to be ( a leader) of my Koli community and not of the Congress. I must state clearly that when one enters politics as the son of a community, one is obliged to remain the son of the community rather than become a politician),” Chudasama said while addressing a public meeting on KCC Ground in Veraval town of Gir Somnath district.ahmahm The public meeting was the culmination of a procession taken out by the Koli community from Sadbhavana ground near Somnath temple to the KCC ground to mark the pragatya divas (day of incarnation) of Mandhata—the patron god of the Koli community. Rajesh Chudasama, the sitting BJP MP from Junagadh and who is also a cousin of Vimal, also joined the procession. The two cousins rode together in an open jeep during the event. Vimal and Arvind Ladani were the only Congress candidates to emerge victorious from the entire Saurashtra-Kutch region in the Assembly election last month as the Congress was routed by the BJP. “If someone from the Koli community goes (on to join a political party), the BJP, Congress or any other party accepts you as the son of the Koli community. The community suffers the most if, after being inducted, one serves only the party,” said Vimal, a two-time MLA who defeated BJP’s Mansinh Parmar in the December polls.
