Gujarat: At weavers’ body meet, its president joins BJP

The meeting was held to discuss major issues faced by the powerloom sector including the fly-by-night firms which purchase grey fabrics in large quantity and default payment.

The presidents and secretaries of 33 powerloom associations of Surat city and district remained present in the Maha Adhiveshan meeting.
However, sources in FOGWA said that the event was organized as a platform for Jirawala, who was with Congress, to join BJP.

FOGWA president Jirawala said, “Paatil had given justice to the issues faced by textile industry earlier and helped the industry in each stage. I was with Congress and now for the betterment of the textile industry, I thought of joining BJP, as it is worthless to swim against the flow of waves. I have no expectation of getting any position in the party, but whatever work is given to me, I will definitely take it to a successful end.”

Addressing the meeting, BJP MP of Surat and Union Minister Jardosh said, “The textile industry is presently an unorganized sector and attempts are being made to make it organized. The textile ministry is also working to start skill training centres at those places where the industries are established so that more people can get employed.”

At the event, the state BJP chief said assured support to the textile industry over any issue faced by them
“The textile industry employs the most number of people in the country. For issues related to GST duty or anything else, we are there to support,” Paatil said.

Jirawala had started his political career in Sewa Dal of Congress in 1982 and then joined Youth Congress. Later he was made the Surat city Congress president in 2013.

When the then CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi was projected as prime ministerial candidate of BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Ashok Jirawala, had joined BJP.

However, he returned to Congress in 2016 and was part of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samithi protest demanding reservations across the state. In the 2017 Assembly elections, Congress gave ticket to Nilesh Kumbhani and Ashok Jirawala from Kamrej seat in Surat after the latter created pressure on the party and both of them filed nomination forms. However Nilesh Kumbhani later withdrew the form and
Jirawala lost the election to V D Zalavadiya.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Paatil also attended a alumni meet of students of PP Sawani school in Varachha.
The state BJP chief also released a video on social media apologizing for mentioning Subhadra as Lord Krishna’s wife during a speech at the Madhavpur fair a few days ago.

In the video, C R Paatil said, “I have corrected my mistake in the same speech. But some people had contacted me on phone and told me to apologize. I did and apologized to them on the phone. Later on some people told me to come to Dwarka and apologise, and I told them that I will definitely do it…”