This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

For The First Time, Gujarat CM Categorically Rules Out Quota For Patel Community

For The First Time, Gujarat CM Categorically Rules Out Quota For Patel Community
NEW DELHI, INDIA - AUGUST 27: Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel during Vibrant Gujarat curtain raiser at Taj Palace, in New Delhi, India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the seventh edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, an event he conceptualized as the chief minister to attract global investors to the state. The biennial event will be held between January 11 and January 13, 2015 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. (Photo by Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
NEW DELHI, INDIA - AUGUST 27: Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel during Vibrant Gujarat curtain raiser at Taj Palace, in New Delhi, India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the seventh edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, an event he conceptualized as the chief minister to attract global investors to the state. The biennial event will be held between January 11 and January 13, 2015 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. (Photo by Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

For the first time since Hardik Patel's agitation to get quotas for the Patel community took Gujarat by storm, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has categorically ruled out their inclusion in the Other Backward Class (category).

"Only five percent of Patels are agitating and demanding reservation. There is no question of giving them quota. Will not let other communities suffer," Anandiben said on Sunday, The Times of India reported.

The chief minister's remarks came on the same day that Gujarat was holding elections for six municipal corporations. She was speaking during a poll campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajula town of Amreli where district and taluka panchayat elections will be held on November 29, TOI reported.

Patel's overnight emergence and audacious criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his own turf has stunned the BJP-led state government in Gujarat as well as the NDA government at the centre. Hardik also warned the BJP government in Gujarat of defeat in the 2017 polls if his demands were not met.

Over the past four months, the state government made some efforts to engage with the Patel community over its quota demand.

Ahead of the panchayat election, however, Anandiben needs to assure existing communities in the OBC categories that their space will not shrink.

Making her point clear on Sunday, the chief minister said that she will not let other communities suffer.

Contact HuffPost India

Also on HuffPost:

Mukesh Ambani

11 Interesting Facts About India's Top Businessmen

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.