Hardik wants Congress to take assembly route for Patidar quota

Hardik Patel, the 25-year-old Patel quota leader on Wednesday urged Congress to introduce a private member bill in the Gujarat assembly seeking reservation for the community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

Leader of the Opposition and Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani said that the party had tabled a bill in this regard twice and that now the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government should consider their demand for a discussion on the issue.

Hardik, whose Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti had supported the Congress during the 2015 local body elections and 2017 assembly elections, has been urging the Patidar quota bill to be cleared by the state Assembly during the February-March budget session.

“If the BJP in Maharashtra can give reservation to Marathas through a bill, why can’t the same be done by the BJP in Gujarat. Like the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supported the bill in Maharashtra, the BJP should support the Congress in for a similar bill for Gujarat. The bill will make the stand of both the parties clear,’’ Patel said.

Both Dhanani and Patel said that reservation to non-reserved classes should be given on the lines of Maharashtra bill, which was based on survey by the backward class commission. Both also maintained that not just Patidars, but all the non-reserved communities should be included.

“The Congress had first tabled private member bill in February 2016, which was rejected. It again tabled the similar bill in March 2018 and there should be a discussion on the same in either a special session or next budget session’’, said Dhanani.

AHMEDABAD: If the BJP in Maharashtra can give reservation to Marathas through a bill, why can’t the same be done by the BJP in Gujarat.