Hardik Patel announces support for Congress

Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday declared his support for the Congress in the Gujarat elections next month and said the opposition party had accepted its demand for reservation for the Patel community.

The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader said the Congress will include the extension of reservation benefit to Patidars in its election manifesto. Hardik Patel announced that his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) was formally accepting the formula advanced by the Congress party to give job quotas to the community under the OBC category.

"The Congress has accepted our demand for reservations with a formula that provides for benefits equivalent to OBCs constitutionally, without disturbing the present 49 per cent quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs," said Patel.

"We are telling you that we are accepting the formula given to us by the Congress party."

The Congress, which has mounted a hectic campaign to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saffron party chief Amit Shah, has been wooing the Patel stir spearhead for quite some time.

Elections in Gujarat will be held on December 9 and 14.

With inputs from agencies