Guj polls: Change of 4 candidates doesn’t work for Congress, PAAS

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, November 21

Despite the Congress changing four of its candidates to satisfy the demands of the “Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti” late last night, PAAS convener Hardik Patel, facing problems from within, continued to play truant and again deferred an announcement on “agreement” with the Congress over support to the party in the December Assembly elections.

Hardik was scheduled to make the announcement yesterday at a Patidar rally in Rajkot, the constituency of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, but ducked it following an embarrassing clash with the Congress leaders by his trusted lieutenant Dinesh Bhambhaniya over allocation of ticket to the PAAS candidates.

Hardik had convened a press conference this morning too to make the announcement, but the event was deferred to evening and later postponed till tomorrow.

Today being the last day for filling nominations for 89 constituencies going to the polls on December 9, the Congress allowed both its original nominee and the changed candidates to file the forms to take a final decision till the last day of withdrawal depending on the stand the PAAS takes on understanding with the party in the next two days.

Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and the party in-charge of Gujarat affairs Ashok Gehlot rushed to Delhi and reportedly held discussion with veteran leader Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, and other party leaders on the PAAS issue. A team of senior party leaders also continued to hold discussions with the PAAS leaders on the current stalemate and the list of candidates for the 93 constituencies going to the polls on December 14.

Even after the four candidates were changed, local leaders of the PAAS created ruckus over the Congress candidate for the Botad seat in Saurashtra region from where the former minister and a close aide of Narendra Modi, Saurabh Patel, is scheduled to contest the elections on the BJP ticket.

The Congress had named a defector from the Nationalist Congress Party, Manhar Patel, as its candidate but the PAAS insisted on a local leader, DM Patel, to be put up as the Congress nominee. Here too, the Congress directed both of them to file their nominations pending a final decision.

Some leaders in the PAAS, still close to Hardik, have accused his close aide Dinesh as acting as an agent of the BJP to damage the “agreement” the PAAS reached with the Congress after prolonged negotiations over formula to guarantee reservation to the Patidars without attracting the displeasure of the courts.