The Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel sprang a surprise on Monday before his crucial meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, saying they will go for talks on the reservation issue only if all the 144 representatives of his group are invited.
Mr. Hardik, as Convenor of Patel Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), is leading the stir for OBC status for the community.
“We have decided that we will go for meeting with the Chief Minister only if she agrees to meet all the 144 of our representatives who have come from different parts of the State,” he told reporters in Gandhinagar.
The talks are considered crucial as on Sunday the state government and Patel community members agreed to sit across the table to discuss the issue for the first time.
“We have sent 14 of our representatives to request the Chief Minister to come out of her official bungalow and meet all our members in her garden.
“If the Chief Minister agrees, then all of us will go for the meeting and if she says no, then we will go back from Gandhinagar without meeting her,” Mr. Hardik said.
The 22-year-old commerce graduate said PAAS will continue with its agitational programmes if Ms. Anandiben refuses to meet all group representatives.
The Patel community is agitating for the last two months for reservation in government jobs and educational institutes under OBC quota.
The stir had turned violent after their August 25 mega rally in Ahmedabad in which 10 people, including a policeman, were killed.
Hardik seeks blessings of Keshubhai
Ahead of a crucial meeting of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti with the Chief Minister later in the day, Samiti’s convenor Hardik Patel met Keshubhai Patel and sought his blessings for the quota stir.
Mr. Hardik and his team members called on the former BJP chief minister at his residence in Gandhinagar.
“We have sought blessings from Keshubhai Patel for our reservation agitation. He said he will support the stir if it is conducted in a non-violent way. We have assured him that it will remain non-violent,” Mr. Hardik said after the meeting.
He said the meeting of the Patel community leaders with Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will mainly deliberate on alleged police brutality during the violence after their mega rally on August 25.
“Our demand includes action against those policemen who were involved in atrocities. We will also raise the issue of compensation to those killed in the violence,” Mr. Hardik told reporters.
He said they will not oppose the government’s proposed announcement of a package for poor students belonging to upper caste but stick to their demand of inclusion of the Patel community in the OBC category for reservation.
Mr. Hardik had on Sunday postponed his ‘reverse Dandi March’, to September 15, saying that he has been invited by a Cabinet minister for a meeting with the Chief Minister on the issue.
It was for the second time he postponed his march.
