Hardik to be star campaigner in UP

Patidar youth leader Hardik Patel has been named one of the star campaigners by the Congress for phase I and II elections in Uttar Pradesh. He is the only leader from Gujarat to have made it to the privileged list of 40 leaders. Having just joined Congress after the CWC meeting recently held in Ahmedabad on March 12, Hardik finds his name in the illustrious list that includes Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Capt Amarinder Singh, Sachin Pilot, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Raj Babbar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sheila Dixit to name a few.

A fiery speaker, who fought for his Patidar community during the quota agitation in Gujarat, Hardik has claimed that it is to his credit that the Centre’s hand was forced to announce 10 per cent reservations for upper caste poor. While several Congress MLAs have left the party to join the BJP, after being offered ministerial berths in the state, Hardik joining the party has been a big boost to the Congress.

During the agitation against persons from North India, particularly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Hardik’s posters had come up in Patna offering help to Biharis and residents of Uttar Pradesh in case of attacks on them in Gujarat.

The posters had even mentioned a toll number and a WhatsApp number to help people if they were beaten in Gujarat for being a non-Gujarati. He had claimed that PAAS leaders and workers had visited areas of North Indian settlements in Gujarat and had assured them of help and requested them not to leave the State.

The 25-year-old leader, while announcing recently that he will join the Congress, had said he will be contesting from Jamnagar constituency that has a sizable Patidar voters. His candidature has been caught in a legal tangle in the Gujarat High Court due to charges of rioting and arson against him at the peak of Patidar agitation in Visnagar in 2015.

A BJP leader told Mirror, “Hardik has a star value. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah, if there is any leader who has got an appeal or influence across Gujarat in both the BJP and Congress, it is Hardik Patel. He is a known face even outside Gujarat and he is just 25. Until now he has taken his steps wisely and he has a potential to grow big as a leader.”