Madhya Pradesh minister and BJP leader Prahlad Patel, who sparked a controversy by saying that people have developed a habit of begging from the government and this “army of beggars is not making society stronger”, clarified Monday that he never spoke against the people. “I made this remark among my own community members, something I have been saying for years and will continue to say in the future,” he said.
Patel said, “(state Congress president Jitu) Patwari should apologise to me and my party…It was not a political programme but a social gathering…in such a situation, without thinking and motivated by greed, giving this kind of reaction is an insult and also very dangerous…”
Reacting to Patel’s clarification, Patwari said, “This means that the people of MP, who approach the ministers of BJP for justice, were beggars, are beggars, and will remain beggars… If this is true, then gimmicks like CM Helpline should be shut down…”
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