Cong’s bet on Youth in Guj fails to make headway | Economic Times

The much-hyped poaching of three youth leaders — Alpesh Thakore, Jignesh Mevani and Hardik Patel — by the Gujarat Congress ahead of the 2017 state elections has failed to yield much dividend for the party.While Alpesh Thakore, the fire-brand Thakore leader from North Gujarat parted ways with the party and joined the BJP, Jignesh Mevani remained an independent Congress supported MLA with zero contribution to the politics of the party in the state. The youngest and most high profile of the three — Hardik Patel — who was appointed the party’s working president last year, is yet to show any sign of being a team player.The Congress in Gujarat has long been grappling with a vacuum of leadership with both state president Amit Chavda and leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanani having tendered in their resignations for the third time after the debacle in the local body polls earlier this year. The crisis was exacerbated with the demise of the Congress state in-charge Rajiv Satav during the second wave of Covid-19. With assembly elections due next year, the Congress has been trying to mobilise workers through a number of agitational programmes against issues like price rise and Pegasus, with many senior leaders taking to the streets on these issues. While both Chavda and Dhanani have been leading from the front, Hardik has been conspicuous by his absence.“For more than two decades we have established a norm of renting out leaders from outside. They reap the benefit of whatever little success we get or jump ship at the slightest opportunity, leaving the grass-roots workers demoralised,” said one of the top leaders of the party who requested anonymity. “Normally, we had people working their way up in the party and assuming the mantle of leadership after proving their mettle. But these people have been imposed on the workers without any such process,” said yet another leader adding that while Patel rode on the wave of the Patidar agitation in 2015, Thakore and Mevani benefitted from the counter movement of the same. In fact, close associates of Hardik Patel are now joining the AAP, which is all set to field its candidates in the assembly elections, fuelling speculations of Hardik jumping ship. Speaking to ET, Hardik categorically denied any such possibility.