Gujarat Assembly Election 2017: Has Congress Shown Patidar Leader Hardik Patel His Place? - JPKee.com

New Delhi, Nov 20: The Congress released its first list of 77 candidates for Gujarat Assembly Election 2017 with over 20 Patidar names but reportedly only two names from Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS). On Sunday evening, the Gujarat Congress and PAAS were believed to have reached an agreement over the Patidar reservations issue but as soon as the list was out, PAAS members started protesting and even clashed with the Congress workers in Ahmedabad and Surat.

All this happened just a day before the last date of filing nominations for the first phase. The Congress seems reluctant in giving in to the demands of rookie politician Hardik Patel. Tactfully, the Congress delayed its list and left the Patidar leaders in the lurch as it included only two names from PAAS. However, it gave over 20 seats to Patidar community. This has created a rift within PAAS, forcing Hardik to call off his scheduled rally in Rajkot.

Where does this leave Hardik Patel?

Young Hardik raised his currency in Gujarat politics against the ruling BJP, demanding reservations for his community. He gathered Patidars, which forms 17 per cent of Gujarat population, in the name of reservations in jobs. In doing so he went far against the BJP with his rhetorical pitch before the Gujarat Assembly polls. If the BJP wins Gujarat despite Hardik problem or the Congress improves its tally despite the same problem, it will render novice Hardik ineffective in Gujarat politics.

As of now, the PAAS-Congress agreement is yet to take a concrete shape and the Congress doesn’t want to give Hardik much room for it knows he can’t align with the BJP as the ruling party has decided to taste the waters without bothering about the Hardik factor. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah from the same land, the BJP has the might to ignore small players such as PAAS.

The Congress is contesting this election to better its tally of seats, so it has not much to offer but it won’t mind the gain of a few seats because of the Hardik factor. But, the Grand Old Party knows where to limit the game and it has done so with the first list of candidates which angered the PAAS. Now, it is up to Hardik Patel, 24, to choose if he wants to remain an unimportant partner to the Congress or return to his nuisance value–protests and shutdowns. Hardik will have to make some quick decisions as the two-phase voting in Gujarat will take place on December 9 and 14.

The young Patidar leader may have dominated the media coverage in the run-up to Assembly election 2017, but has nothing big to gain as of now. Even if the national party gives the Patidar leader a handful of seats to contest in Gujarat, ‘Rahul Gandhi’s Congress’ has made it abundantly clear that it cannot be held to ransom by a newbie, who is yet to make his election debut.

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Author - Vikash Kumar