PAAS leaders in Delhi to meet Congress, finalise support

Gandhinagar/New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Senior Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leaders, minus Hardik Patel, are meeting All India Congress Committee (AICC) members in New Delhi on Friday to discuss their demand for reservation, and possibly finalise an alliance ahead of the Gujarat elections.

The PAAS leaders, who were invited by the AICC for the talks, flew to Delhi early on Friday for the purpose.

The AICC will be deciding on the fate of the Patidar reservation demands put up by the PAAS groups to the grand old party. A meeting on Friday afternoon has been convened in Delhi where PAAS leaders have been invited to hold talks and finalize the alliance between the two.

The leader of the PAAS group, Hardik Patel, though won't be present, but Dinesh Bambhania, Lalit Vasoya, Manoj Panara, Kiritbhai Patel, convenors of the group, will attend the meet.

The group has pledged support to the grand old party in the coming state assembly elections in Gujarat, if their demands of reservation status to the community is constitutionally granted by the Congress, if it comes to power. The Patidars have been demanding reservation status from the ruling BJP in Gujarat for the past two years.

"If the Congress takes steps to support our demand for reservation for Patidars, we will either, directly or indirectly, support the party in the upcoming elections," Hardik Patel had said. However, he had clarified that he was not going to join any party for the next two-and-a-half years.

Earlier, both of the sides had met in Ahmedabad, under the guidance of senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal and had discussed ways and means on how the community can be granted reservation in the state, on the basis of the Constitution.

"We have discussed all the aspects and will do all the things (to provide reservation to the Patidar community) as per the Constitution," Sibal had said after a three-hour meeting which concluded at 2 a.m.