The finer details of the Congress – Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PASS) tie-up are now slowly coming out in the open and if sources are to be believed, Congress has given assurance to field weak candidates on seats where the Patidar contenders are more acceptable and the community has a sizeable population.

Hardik Patel on his part will not join Congress but will support the party throughout the state. In exchange, he expects the Congress to only put up token candidates from constituencies where PAAS core committee members will be fighting for seats against BJP.

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The seats supposedly picked up by PAAS leader Hardik Patel for core committee members, include Surat for Alasesh Kathiria, Botad for Dilip Sabwah, Dhoraji for Lalit Vasoya, Mehsana for Lalji Patel, Morbi for Manoj Panara and Ahmedabad’s Vatva seat for Gita Patel. Meanwhile, Atul Patel will be nominated for the Sabarmati seat in Ahmedabad.

According to sources, the Congress has pledged to give Patidars quota of reservation under Article 31 and 38 (2) of the Constitution of India, without disbursing the existing 49% existing limit. In exchange for it, PAAS is likely to lend support to Congress in Gujarat without joining the party before next elections.

Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, after the meeting between Patidar leaders and Kapil Sibal, had said that Sibal had proposed various options under which Patidar and other communities could get the benefit of reservation.

He elaborated, “Article 31 and 38 (2) of the Constitution cannot be challenged in any court as this particular section protects states decision relating the elimination of inequalities of specific groups or individuals at the social level and to ensure that they are providing equal opportunities and facilities.”

The Patidar leadership has discussed the options provided by the Congress and after detailed discussions with the lawyers, retired judges and government officials on the issue of reservation, has arrived to this decision. This formula seems to be a win-win situation for both the PAAS and the Congress, in particular, as the party will be able to give proper representation to not only Patidar but also Vaishnav, Brahmin and Rajputs, who are otherwise a strong vote bank for the BJP.

The formula seems to be the culmination of talks between PAAS and Congress, where the PAAS core committee had kept five demands before the Congress, including taking back of cases against Patidar agitators and sedition case against Hardik Patel; the cases to be filed against policemen who took lives of 14 Patidar community people; the payment of Rs 35 lakh to the deceased’s family; giving government job to any one member of the deceased family; and the demand for reservation to the Patidars.

Congress had accepted all the demands except that of the reservation, for which it had asked for time and met the PAAS leadership later to offer three options to choose from. Now it seems things are finally settling down between the two as the parties are expected to formally announce the decision later in the evening on Monday.