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Journalism of Courage
A day after he said Prashant Kishor’s decision to not join the Congress would have no bearing on his next move, Patidar leader Naresh Patel on Wednesday called the poll strategist a “friend” who would stand by him should he join politics.
“As I have said earlier, Prashant Kishor is my friend, a very old friend. Not just recently, but we have been meeting frequently. The decision he made yesterday is his personal, professional decision. I can’t comment on that… I am fully hopeful that he will stand by me should I join politics,” Patel said, adding, “He has decided to not join the party. But he has not said that he won’t talk politics or won’t make political moves. He is associated with quite a few parties.”
Kishor was said to have been batting for Naresh Patel, the influential chairman of the Shree Khodaldham Trust (SKT), to join the Congress. This was seen as one of the reasons for the other Patidar leader Hardik Patel’s growing distance from the Congress.
Naresh Patel was in Rajkot on Wednesday to chair a joint meeting of the board of trustees of the SKT, Sardar Patel Cultural Foundation and Leuva Patel Atithi Bhavan on Wednesday. SKT is the religious trust of the Leuva Patels, a sub-caste of the politically and economically influential Patidar community. Through the SKT, Patel, an industrialist from Rajkot, had built Khodaldham, a grand temple of goddess Khodiyar, in Kagvad village of Rajkot and has been mobilising Leuva Patels around the temple project for more than a decade now.
Talking to The Indian Express on Tuesday, after Kishor tweeted that he had turned down an offer from Congress to join the party, Patel had said that he had recently met the poll strategist but added that Kishor’s decision will not have any impact on his future decision.
On Wednesday, the SKT chairman said a field survey to ascertain people’s views on his joining politics is still on. Denying that the SKT was conducting the survey, he claimed no politics was discussed at Wednesday’s meeting. “We never discuss politics on the platform of Khodaldham. We discuss such matters in other forums. People from outside are out on the field and conducting the survey,” he said. Patel’s statement is a departure from what he said on March 28 – that the Khodaldham network is conducting the survey.
Patel also said that he would make up his mind on joining politics over the next few days.
On remarks by Ramesh Tilara, an SKT trustee and chairman of the Shapar-Veraval Industrial Association, that the primary feedback from the survey was negative, Patel said, “Rameshbhai is a senior and respected trustee. He didn’t say the survey is over but that it was coming to a close. The elders don’t want me to join politics… Rameshbhai probably was talking about them. But the youth are very enthusiastic and women also want me to join politics.”
