Secret meetings, Backroom deals, Supposedly sensational expose. These are some of the hallmarks of an Indian election cycle. If the media reports and journalist chatter from the poll-bound state are to be believed, all the above deeds are happening in Gujarat.
The reports say that Hardik Patel, the person behind Patidar Reservation moment secretly met Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday. But Hardik Patel denied the allegations or the reports against the meeting. Thus, a question raised in media that,
“Did Patidar leader Hardik Patel lie when he said he didn’t meet Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at Ummed Hotel on Monday?”
Hours after Patidar campaigner Hardik Patel tweeted his nth denial of a meeting with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at a five-star hotel in Gujarat, new CCTV footage appeared to contradict him. The CCTV footage dated Monday between 12 and 2 pm, Hardik Patel is seen waiting in a hotel corridor, then walking towards a room.
The footage purportedly showed Hardik Patel entering and moving about the hotel, and the media channels’ assertion was that he was there to meet Rahul Gandhi, who was in Gujarat to address a rally in the state capital Gandhinagar.
The state’s ruling BJP has denied that it is trying to capitalize on a “secret meeting” between the two and is, therefore, circulating leaked footage. “The media has highlighted the meeting. We had no role in the CCTV footage leak. But we want to ask Hardik why he is hiding it. There is something sinister in it,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Patel said that while he was present at the Ummed Hotel on Monday, he did not meet Gandhi as is being reported. “After the Congress’s invite, I reached the hotel on Sunday at 3 am. I met their Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot. As it was too late, I decided to stay back at the hotel. But they (Bharatiya Janata Party) got the CCTV camera clips leaked because everything here (in Gujarat) is their property,” Patel said.
Patel added more to the speculations when he said that he was ready to support “thief” Congress if that is what it takes to dethrone “bigger thief” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Gujarat Assembly Elections. Addressing a rally at Mandal in North Gujarat on Monday night, Patel said, “Congress is a chor but the BJP is a maha chor. And to defeat a maha chor if we have to support a chor, we will. But have patience. Do not support just now.”
Watch The CCTV Footage-1 Here:
CCTV footage shows PAAS leader @HardikPatel_ met #RahulGandhi in Hotel Taj, #Ahmedabad #Gujarat @OfficeOfRG @INCGujarat @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/FLMjCAhpu3
— Tv9 Gujarati (@tv9gujarati) October 23, 2017
Rahul, anyway, was likely not in Gujarat Sunday night. But the rumors that Hardik met the Gandhi scion, who is tipped to take over the Congress party soon, perhaps came from another CCTV clip that purportedly showed the Patel leader still at the hotel Monday evening, at around 4 pm.
Watch The CCTV Footage-2 Here:
एक और प्रमाण, हार्दिक आज शाम 4 बजकर 19 मिनट पर होटल उमेद से निकला। pic.twitter.com/ihRQgCBybe
— Janak Dave (@dave_janak) October 23, 2017
The same day, OBC or Other Backward Castes leader Alpesh Thakor joined the Congress. Hardik Patel would be chary about being seen fraternizing with the Congress at the same time as Thakor, who represents the numerically dominant OBCs in Gujarat, a formidable rival for Gujarat’s quota pie. Those close to him say it would be playing right into the hands of the BJP.