Amid continuing Kshatriya protests against Union Minister Parshottam Rupala and the BJP, a group of royals belonging to the erstwhile princely state of Rajkot Thursday extended their support to Narendra Modi’s bid for a third term as the Prime Minister of the country. The support, taken after a brainstorming session (chintan shibir) of the royals led by Mandhatasinh Jadeja, came on a day Modi was addressing three election meetings in the Saurashtra region. Addressing a press conference, Mandhatasinh said the royals of Chhota Udepur, Jasdan, Jetpur, Thana Devali, Chotila, Babra, Shapar, Makhavad and Paliyad were among around a dozen scions present at the chintan shibir hosted at Rajkot's Ranjit Vilas Palace. Mandhatasinh said that Priti Devi, the maharani (queen) of Kutch, and Bhavnagar royal Vijaysinh Gohil were among other royals who had sent in their letters of support. Mandhatasinh added that Kesaridevsinh Jhala and Tusharsinh, royals of Wankaner and Devgadh Baria respectively, could not make it to the session as they were attending Modi’s meetings in Anand and Surendranagar. “Decades after Independence, India has got an alert prime minister in Narendra Modi. (Through the) firm and irreversible decisions that he took during his 10 years as Prime Minister, he has proven that our country, India, was great in the past, and is equally grand in the present and that it will climb the peak of being vishwaguru (world leader) in future,” Mandhatasinh said, adding the royals called for voting in big numbers to help the BJP win more than 400 seats. The session came hours before Modi landed in Surendranagar to address his first public meeting this Lok Sabha election. Later in the day, he addressed similar public meetings in Junagadh and Jamnagar also. Before addressing his public meeting in Jamnagar, Modi called on Shatrushalyasinh Jadeja of the erstwhile princely state of Nawanagar-Jamnagar. Modi later told the public meeting that Shatrushalyasinh blessed him and gifted him a turban.
