Jumana Shah | Posted by Bijin Jose
Ahmedabad, November 1, 2017 | UPDATED 20:53 IST
Even as speculations about him joining the NCP have been abounding for a while now, Hardik and his close associate Dinesh Bambania claimed it was not a political meeting, but a Diwali courtesy meeting.
In another interesting development on Wednesday, firebrand Patidar leader, who has raised the heckles of ruling BJP in Gujarat, met the Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel at an undisclosed location in Ahmedabad.
Even as speculations about him joining the NCP have been abounding for a while now, Hardik and his close associate Dinesh Bambania claimed it was not a political meeting, but a Diwali courtesy meeting.
Hardik tweeted about the meeting with photographs soon after. "This was not the first time we met Prafulbhai. We have met several times over the last year," Bambania said, refusing to comment on the speculations about PAAS lending its support to NCP in the coming Assembly elections in Gujarat.
Another speculation going around in political circles in Gujarat is that the BJP is using NCP as its B team to negotiate with Hardik and keep him from joining Congress formally. Interestingly, this is inherently contradictory as NCP for the last decade at least has had a formal tie-up with Congress, and it contests elections jointly with seat sharing in Gujarat.
Despite this tie up, NCP has been going back and forth on its support to Congress. One of the two NCP MLAs in Gujarat - Kandal Jadeja claimed he was asked to vote against Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha elections. This was following the exit of veteran rebel leader Shankersinh Vaghela from Congress on the eve of polls.
Political observers have confided that Praful Patel might be looking to contest Assembly elections from South Gujarat this time. Getting the Patidar support would be a big boost for the NCP, which despite a few MLAs in the Assembly, has negligible presence on the ground in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, a fringe group Patidar Organization Committee lashed out against Hardik Patel on Wednesday morning. Members of this group claimed the negotiations with the BJP-led state government were sufficient and Hardik should stop his movement now.
The members of this group are representatives of the Umiya Mata Sansthan, Unjha, Khodaldham, Kagvad and other Patidar organizations from Sidsar, Ahmedabad and Surat. "Hardik is now politicizing the issue by lending backdoor support to Congress. This is not what the reservation movement was meant for," Rasikbhai Patel said.
VIDEO | Will support Congress, if it supports Patidar causes: Hardik Patel
