Journalism of Courage
“Is the decision to join the Congress a correct one”, asked Patidar quota leader Hardik Patel twice to the crowd at the Congress rally in Adalaj. And, the people replied with a resounding “Yes”.
Hardik, who joined the Congress on Tuesday, said he made the decision after seeing the party’s patriotism. “People asked me why have you decided to join the Congress. I have decided it (to join the Congress) when the Congress decided to call off its CWC meeting and this rally, which was slated to be held on February 28, after the Pulwama attack. Seeing this patrotism, I decided to join the Congress… Prime Minister Narendra Modi in comparison held countless rallies during this period and started doing politics in the name of the martyred jawans,” he told the gathering at the Jan Sankalp rally. He said his move to join the party was only a continuation of the work he was doing for his community for the last three years.
The 25-year-old Patidar leader praised Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress president is “honest”. “People ask me why I chose the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. I chose Rahul Gandhi because he is honest. He does not believe in working like a dictator,” he said. Click here for more election news
On the BJP’s charge of dynastic politics in the Congress, Hardik said there was nothing wrong if a politician’s son wanted to join the same field to serve people. He asked the Congress cadres to get their act together to defeat the BJP in the next month’s Lok Sabha polls. “We have so far been fighting against the BJP. We have to continue this fight. We have to fight against those who are against the Constitution; those who are against the country’s history; against those who killed Mahatma Gandhi,” he added.
Earlier, Congress president Rahul Gandhi publicly welcomed Hardik into the party fold by offering him a Congress scarf at the rally. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and veteran Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad also welcomed Hardik into the party while speaking from the stage.
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Hardik tweeted: “Till now I was a part of a social movement, fighting on the path of truth and honesty. Today I joined the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru by joining the Congress in the presence of Shri@Rahul Gandhi’’. In another tweet, Hardik described himself as a “25 years old, social youth leader fighting for the rights of youth, farmers and women empowerment’’.
In all likelihood, Hardik will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Jamnagar. “I would also like to state that if there is no legal hindrance and party decides to field me in electoral politics, I would abide by the party’s decision. I am taking this step to serve 125 core citizens of India,” Hardik who is facing sedition charges and has been also convicted in a rioting case, had tweeted two days ago. In the 2017 Assembly elections, Hardik had backed the Congress, and several PAAS leaders were fielded by the opposition party.
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Meanwhile, the entry of Hardik in the Congress is set to give the party a fillip . The Congress recently faced several setbacks with its MLA count in the Assembly going down to 71 from 77 with the exit of five MLAs and disqualification of another after he was convicted in a 24-year-old mining case.
No poll code violation by CWC meet, says EC
The Election Commission on Tuesday received a complaint against the Congress for holding its working committee meeting at Sardar Patel Memorial in Shahibaug area of Ahmedabad. The complainant, identified as one Ramesh Patel, alleged that the meeting was in violation of the model code of conduct. However, the EC officials carried out an inquiry and found that the CWC meeting did not violate the poll code. “We sent our officers to Sardar Patel Memorial and found that the the trust running the memorial had granted permission to the Congress to hold the event there. It was found that the party had taken prior permission of Ahmedabad Police Commissioner to hold the meeting there. So, no violation of model code was found, and we disposed of the complaint,” said Chetan Gandhi, Election Officer of Ahmedabad Collector Office.
