Hardik Patel, the Convener of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS,) on the 12th of March, will join the Indian National Congress (INC,) in Ahmedabad.
The decision was taken during the Core Committee meeting of the PAAS, which was held on the 7th of March, in Rajkot.
Hardik Patel will be announced as a member of the INC, on the 12th of March, during the Working Committee meeting of the INC.
According to sources, Patel is expected to get the Member of Parliament (MP) ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the Jamnagar constituency, Gujarat.
Dharmik Malaviya, a Co Convener of the PAAS, addressed the media and said, “Hardik will most probably contest from Jamnagar on a Congress ticket and PAAS workers will work for his victory.”
However, the final decision regarding the constituency from which Hardik will contest, will be taken by the INC.
Malviya further said, apart from Hardik, a few other members of the PAAS desired to join the INC, but as of now, nothing is confirmed regarding the same.
Speaking about the agenda of the INC behind Hardik’s candidature, the Party wants to secure a majority of the Patidar votes and give tough competition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP.)
In 2014, during the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won all the 26 Lok Sabha seats, leaving 0 seats for the INC.
In 2017, during the Gujarat Assembly elections, the PAAS gave neck to neck competition to the BJP by securing 82 Assembly seats out of the 182 seats.
The WCM will be attended by Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA,) Dr. Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India, Priyanka Gandhi, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh East, and other senior INC members.
Gujarat will contest a total of 26 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, scheduled between April and May 2019.
The major parties contesting the Lok Sabha seats are the INC and the BJP.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Lok Sabha elections.