Ex-servicemen protest Paricharak's remarks

A group of ex-servicemen and others today protested BJP-supported Maharashtra legislator Prashant Paricharak's controversial remarks about soldiers.
Ex-servicemen and people from various walks of life gathered near the Maratha War Memorial here to protest against Paricharak, an independent member of the state Legislative Council.
"His statement is unfortunate and hurtful....By making such a statement, you are abusing the entire nation," said Lt General D B Shekatkar (retd).
Col Sambhaji Patil (retd) said the remarks were hurtful and insulting.
The protesters demanded the MLC's resignation and registration of a criminal case against him.
At a campaign rally in Solapur last week, Paricharak had said, taking a dig at NCP leaders for 'credit-seeking', that a soldier gets a telegram from his wife that she has delivered a baby and he distributes sweets to his colleagues on the border, though he has not visited him home for a whole year.

He was referring to NCP leaders who, he said, were taking credit for water supply from Ujani dam in Solapur district.
However the remarks backfired after a video clip of his speech went viral.
Paricharak expressed regret over his choice of words yesterday, saying he only wanted to highlight credit-seeking by NCP leaders and had no intention to hurt sentiments of jawans and their wives.