Gujarat polls: Cong likely to refuse Hardik Patel on Patidar reservation

New Delhi: Even as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is expected to meet Patidar leader Hardik Patel during his visit to Gujarat in November, party strategists are in no mood to give in to the Patidar demand for reservation under the existing OBC quota in the state.

Congress leaders would, if fact, prefer if Mr Patel’s Patidar Anaamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) contests elections on its own in the Patidar-dominated seats as they feel this would cut into the BJP’s Patel vote bank and benefit them.

Sources in the Congress said that during negotiations with Mr Patel, party leaders felt that he was anyway in no mood to join the Congress, but was determined to ensure that the BJP loses.

“He is not interested in anybody winning. He just wants the BJP to lose,” a senior Congress leader told this newspaper.