Hardik Patel sets demands before Congress

Ahmedabad: Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel has put forward a set of demands before the Congress, including an assurance about reservation for the Patidars in government jobs and educational institutions, as a condition for supporting the party in the Gujarat Assembly polls.

Sources in the Congress party said Patel sought a maximum number of tickets for Patidar candidates in constituencies where the community has dominant presence.

The 24-year-old spearhead of ‘Patidar Anamat Andolan’, during his talks with Congress’ in-charge for Gujarat Ashok Gehlot on Monday sought greater representation of politically influential Patels, who hitherto backed the BJP, in the party’s organisational set up, they said.

Mr Patel, sources said, termed the representation of Patels in the Congress’ organisational structure in Gujarat as “minimal”.

The Patidar community leader pitched for constitutional protection to the provision of reservation for them so as to preclude a judicial review. “Had a good meeting with Hardik Patel and his colleagues,” Mr Gehlot tweeted last on Monday night.

Mr Patel, who is not eligible to contest either an Assembly or Lok Sabha election the minimum age for which is 25 years, also told mediapersons that he had gone to a hotel here to meet Mr Gehlot, a former Rajasthan chief minister, and present his demands before the Congress party.

Alpesh Thakor, a prominent backward class leader and ‘Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena convenor’, had joined thee Congress in the presence of its vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday.

Roping in Mr Patel’s organisation may further bolster the Congress’ efforts to retake Gujarat from the BJP. Speculation was rife on Monday that Mr Patel had also met Rahul Gandhi, who was present inside the hotel when he was holding talks with Mr Gehlot.