Patidar and OBC leaders in talks with BJP, Cong
GAME PLAN Negotiations begin ahead of Gujarat assembly elections
After leading successful agitations against the BJP government in Gujarat, both Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor are now ready to share the negotiating table with any political party that addressed their concerns in the run-up to the state assembly elections.
A team of Patel, who jolted the BJP government in 2015 by steering the OBC quota agitation for his otherwise financially and politically influential Patidar community, has already held the first round of meeting with the Congress. Now his outfit, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), plans to meet BJP leaders.
Patel’s change of stance assumes significance as the young leader has been vociferous in his attacks on the ruling BJP and its national president Amit Shah, vowing to uproot the party every time he addresses a public gathering.
Thakor, who brought OBC, SC and ST communities under one umbrella, had emerged as the biggest hurdle for the Patidar agitation. With strength on his side – OBCs, SCs and STs form over 60% of the Gujarat population – it was Thakor-led movement that compelled the government to come up with a stricter prohibition law.
Like Patel, Thakor has also expressed willingness to support the party that favours the interest of the OBC SC ST Ekta Manch.
Large crowds that throng Patel’s public meetings, which he started upon his return to Gujarat in January after six months in exile and nine months in jail, is being seen as his main bargaining point.
Unlike Patel, Thakor may not be a crowd puller, but he claims to be ready with a network up to the booth level in 46 of total 182 assembly constituencies.
“We are ready to hold discussions with any party, be it the BJP or the Congress. We will take appropriate decision in the interest of the community,” said Patel, who on two earlier occasions had pledged to intensify the agitation after talks with the BJP failed.
Patel made the statement on Saturday, a day after a threemember PAAS committee met Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki to clear his party’s stand on the key demands of the outfit.
Their demands include OBC status to Patels, formation of a Patidar Commission, compensation to the families of at least 10 Patel youths who died during quota violence in 2015 and withdrawal of FIRs against the agitators.
“Our members held a meeting with Solanki to find out what his party can offer to us if the Congress comes to power after the assembly polls. We asked him if his party would be able to give us reservation after coming to power,” Patel said.
Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said it wasn’t the court’s job to interpret the Quran and it should consider the constitutional validity of triple talaq and not restrict itself to examining whether the custom was fundamental to practicing the faith.
If the government brings in a new law it could mean the start of a process to overhaul Muslim personal laws in India that are now guided by a 1937 Sharia code. India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriage, divorce, succes- sion, adoption and maintenance.
The country’s top law officer disagreed with the court that the government should first address whether triple talaq was “essential to religion or not”, saying the it was not an ecclesiastical court.
Tuesday’s raids stem from litigation brought by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who says Chidambaram abused his office to circumvent rules and approve a ₹600 crore investment deal between telecom players Aircel and the Malaysia-headquartered Maxis group in 2006. “FIPB approval is granted in hundreds of cases. The five secretaries who constitute the FIPB (foreign investment promotion board), the officials of the FIPB secretariat and the competent authority in each case are the public officials,” Chidambaram said.
“There is no allegation against any of them. There is no allegation against me.”
In April, the ED told the Supreme Court in a confidential status report that it had found evidence of Advantage Strategic, a company allegedly owned by