My meet with Rahul would have prevented BJP's Guj win: Hardik

Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Saturday said not meeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi ahead of the Gujarat polls was a mistake as it would have prevented the BJP from retaining power in the state.

The 24-year-old Patidar quota agitation spearhead, who had pledged support with the Congress for the Gujarat polls held in last December, said the opposition party would have got an absolute majority had he met Gandhi.

Speaking at a conclave here, Patel said, “I have said this before as well and I am saying it now. I did not meet Rahul Gandhi. If I can openly meet Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar and Uddhav Thackeray, there was no issue in meeting Rahul.”

“It was a mistake. Had I met him, the BJP would have won 79 and not 99 seats.”

The BJP retained Gujarat by winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly. The Congress improved its tally, but could not oust the saffron outfit from its stronghold.

After dilly-dallying for weeks, Patel had, in November-end, declared that his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) would back the Congress in the Gujarat polls, after the latter accepted its demand for reservation to the Patidar community.

Patel reiterated his allegation that a high-ranking bureaucrat of Gujarat had offered him a bribe of Rs 1,200 crore to get the agitating Patels call off their quota stir.

Stating that innocent people were killed in Gujarat during the quota agitation, Patel said sedition charges were slapped on people, who had to make regular court visits now.