Gujarat elections: Hardik Patel meets Kodal Dham chairman over support to Congress

Gujarat: Days after Patidar leader Hardik Patel extended his support to Congress just ahead of Gujarat Assembly polls, Hardik Patel on Thursday went to meet Naresh Patel, who is the chairman of Kodal Dham, one of the biggest spiritual places of Patidar community. It is being said the meeting is aimed at convincing Naresh Patel, after Kodal Dham had expressed dissent towards Hardik’s support to Congress. Hardik pledges to support Congress:  Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel on November 22 pledged his support to the Congress for the Gujarat Assembly elections, in a major fillip to the party's bid to sew up a new caste combination to wrest the state from the BJP after being out of power for 22 years. The 24-year-old Patel, who was playing cat and mouse game with the Congress for the last few weeks, declared that his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) will back the main opposition party after the latter accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community. Hardik, who is not eligible for contesting elections due to his young age, said the Congress also assured the PAAS that it would include its promise of reservation for the Patidars in the party manifesto. The young quota agitation spearhead, who led violent protests in support of the demand that left several people dead in police action, said the promised quota would go beyond the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court for the Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and OBCs. With Hardik extending his support to the Congress, the party has been able to rope in three young caste group leaders in the state whose emergence on Gujarat's political firmament had roots in agitations. Earlier OBC leader Alpesh Thakor of the Gujarat Kshatriya-Thakor Sena had joined the Congress. The 39-year-old Thakor is known for his campaign against liquor in the dry state, and is believed to wield influence among youth belonging to backward classes.