Update: MLA Thavani said he would not apologize to a lady. He said the lady and others are outsiders and not local and he would probe into their origin. Thavani said the lady was collecting Rs. 50,000 for illegal water connection which was cut by local councillor who is Thavani’s younger brother. Thavani said he had beaten up the lady in self defence. When asked whether his party had contacted him over this incident, Thavani said his phone’s battery was down last evening and therefore he couldn’t be reached by party. He added that his phone was still charging.

Meanwhile BJP has condemned this incident and sought explanation from Thavani. State BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said, this is Gandhi’s Gujarat and violence is unacceptable. Pandya said state party chief Jitu Vaghani had sought explanation from Thavani last evening. The party will take decision after reply is received from Thavani.

Ahmedabad: After a video clip showing BJP MLA of Naroda assembly constituency kicking a female protester went viral in the evening on Sunday, the MLA reached local Meghaninagar police station ready to consider legal recourse against protestors he claimed had attacked him first. Sindhi community leaders were attempting compromise into this matter.

Thavani said, ‘I have been in politics for last 22 years and there has been no complain regarding my behavior. Whatever happened today should not happen and I will apologize to lady but this was a pre-planned conspiracy. The lady belongs to rival Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Sindhu Sena outfit. Recently my brother had managed to cut an illegal pipeline to wire factory through which water was sourced directly from the main Raska pipeline.’

Thavani also said, ‘As I got to know that protestors had arrived at my office on Sunday evening over low water pressure issue, I asked for police bandobast and reached my office. I spoke to protestors gently and asked them to come tomorrow during office-time when Municipal officials will be on duty. I told them that today was Sunday and contacting AMC officials or holding meeting with them would not be possible. They started shouting slogans against me and also started making video of it using their mobile phones. Suddenly I was hit from back side. As I kicked in reaction, a lady felled down.’

DeshGujarat