Naresh Patel, a powerful Patidar leader from Saurashtra, on Thursday announced that he is suspending his entry into politics.
Ending months of speculation over joining a political party, Patel, a well-known philanthropist, said that he was putting his decision to join politics "on hold for the time being" and will be opening an academy to train youth in politics.
"As you all know that during the pandemic I had a lot of time to think and I realised that I could join politics. It was my personal decision and before doing that I felt I should seek opinions of others along with the Patidar community. Now, based on the feedback, I am suspending my entry into politics for the time being," Patel said at a press conference.
He said that the survey he had conducted to gauge the public mood showed that youth and women were in support of his move while the senior leaders of the community were "worried" over joining one political party. "The senior leaders thought that I would have to work for only one party. Based on their suggestions, I also felt that I should not join politics as I would like to work for everyone. I am announcing the establishment of Khodaldham Political Academy to train youths from all communities in politics," Patel added.
His decision is said to be hurting the opposition Congress which was trying to bring him into the party fold. Hailing from Rajkot, Naresh is an industrialist who is well-known for being the chairman of Shree Khodaldham Trust (SKT), which manages Khodiyar Mata Temple at Kagvad in Rajkot. Khodiyar Mata is the reigning deity of Leuva Patels, a sub-group of the influential Patidar community in the state, and to which Naresh belongs.
The Patidar community is seen as the driving force behind the BJP's ascendancy and its subsequent stranglehold over the state since 1995. Numerically strong in the Saurashtra region, which elects 48 of the 182 Assembly seats of Gujarat, the Patidar community can make or break the political fortunes of any party.
In 2017, in the wake of the sustained Patidar agitation, the Congress had won 28 seats in Saurashtra, nearly twice the number of seats it won in the previous 2012 polls.
For the past several months, Naresh Patel was the most sought-after public figure with BJP, Congress as well as AAP trying to woo him to join them. He had held several meetings with election strategist Prashant Kishor as well as Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.