Newly inducted Minister of State for Animal Husbandry Purshottam Solanki's brother and sitting BJP MLA Hira Solanki expressed unhappiness over the allocation of portfolio to his brother, claiming that it has hurt the sentiments of Koli (fisherman) community of Gujarat.
After the ministry expansion carried out today, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel had allocated the portfolio of Animal Husbandry to Purshottam who was inducted as a Minister of State today.
Through a press note issued today, his brother Hira, a prominent face of the Koli community and president of the Koli Sena in Gujarat, claimed that the Koli community has been "ignored" in portfolio allocation.
He condemned the portfolio allocation, which according to him, has completely ignored his community and even threatened to gather his community to devise a strategy against the "injustice".
"Kolis comprise 24 per cent of Gujarat's population and out of them 80 per cent are BJP supporters. When leaders from other communities are given important portfolios, why did the government do injustice to the Koli community? This is not at all acceptable to us. We will call a meeting of our community leaders to discuss this issue soon," he said in his press release.
According to Hira, his brother Purshottam was given a "unimportant" portfolio, which has angered the community.
"In the past, our community used to get important portfolios in the government. It seems we have been pushed to the margins. Our community is angry because we have been given just one berth of MoS, and that too the Ministry of Animal Husbandry," he said.
