Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday announced that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He made the announcement at a rally in Lucknow.

Hardik, 25, could not contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 since he was not eligible age wise then.

“Bhaiyya, abhi umar toh hone do (let me come of age first)” Patel had said in December 2017, adding that he would think about contesting the elections in the next two or three years.

Earlier too, he had said, “Constitutionally speaking, I can’t contest the election and I don’t need to, in the first place.”

“Although I believe we must unite against BJP, this isn’t a BJP-Congress election but of 6 crore people of Gujarat,” he had said.

The Congress has earlier said that it will support the Patidar leader if he ever plans to contest elections.

Patel is likely to contest the elections from Amreli in Gujarat. The Congress may support him by not fielding a candidate against him.

In October 2017, Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki had said that the Congress would give Hardik a ticket if he wants to fight elections.

Hardik Patel had got married to childhood friend Kinjal Parikh on January 27, this year.

First Published: Feb 06, 2019 12:21 IST