There are also talks among the members of the religious institution that Naresh Patel is preparing to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket
Naresh Patel, an influential Leuva Patel leader, stepped down as a trustee of the Khodaldham temple on Tuesday, with insiders attributing his decision to growing political rivalry with another trust member.
There are also talks among the members of the religious institution that Naresh Patel is preparing to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket.
Khodaldham is the temple of Khodiyar Maata, the revered goddess of the Leuva Patel community in Saurashtra, that had become the political epicenter during state elections.
A senior leader from the community in Saurashtra said, “Patel has increasing proximity with Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders of Gujarat state. He also had a secret meeting with Gandhi before the Gujarat elections.”
The leader said there are apparent reasons to believe that Naresh Patel is leaning towards the Congress. “PAAS leader Hardik Patel also has been in constant touch with Patel. This all can be concluded as Patel is preparing to contest Lok Sabha polls on Congress’ ticket and probably he can foray in politics from Rajkot constituency.” Patel’s growing rivalry with Paresh Gajera is another reason, he said. “It is known that Gajera is pro-BJP and there was always clash of interests between these two. Gajera is emerging as a stronger leader in Khodaldham trust as BJP leaders are backing him, he said.
On finding his dominance on Khodaldham coming to end, Patel resigned before he becomes the person of no relevance in the institute.”
Naresh Patel is also a businessman and had maintained neutral relations with all the political parties. He had backed former CM Keshubhai Patel in assembly elections held in 2007 when he quit BJP and launched his political forum. Paresh also had given a message to his community to vote for Congress in the assembly elections held in 2012.
Patel, however, could not be reached for his reaction. Several members of Patel community reportedly protested in Rajkot city against Paresh Gajera after the development.
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