AMN / AHMEDBAD
Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel today said that Congress had accepted Patidars’ demand to give reservations if elected to power.
“Congress has agreed to give Patidars reservations under Section 31 and provisions of Section 46, Hardik told media in Ahmedabad, adding that the party has agreed to give Other Backward Classes (OBC) equivalent benefits to those not entitled to quotas in jobs and education.
“The Congress has agreed to put our quota demand and their formula in the manifesto. I have asked Congress leaders to not make any promise that you can’t fulfil. All promises made in the manifesto have to be honoured,” he said.
Mr. Patel, however, refrained from pledging his support to Congress. “Our primary goal is to get quota for Patidars and to achieve that, we first have to defeat BJP,” he said.
Two days back when Congress announced its first list of candidates contesting in the Gujarat Assembly elections, PAAS members reportedly vandalised Congress offices in several places as only two of its members found place in the list. “We have never asked for any ticket from Congress, neither have we done any deal with Congress,” he said.
Terming the pact with Congress as a “baseless story,” Mr. Patel trained his guns against BJP. “BJP has created this baseless story. PAAS is not for politics. It’s a social movement,” he said.
He claimed the BJP has earmarked Rs 200 crore budget to break PAAS and sponsor some independent candidates to divide the Patidar votes. “BJP has always used Patidars for votes. BJP has only lollipop for Patidars,” Mr. Patel said. He also claimed the ruling party offered PAAS Rs 1200 crore to withdraw agitation. “ I refused that and instead continued the agitation. I preferred to go to jail,” he said.