Old Hand

Ahmed Patel holds his Rajya Sabha seat, but the Congress has to build on the win to put its house in order

- Soni Mishra

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi used to say that if the Congress were to lose 25 of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, the only seat to come its way would be that of his confidant Ahmed Patel.

The belief rang true on the night of August 8 when, amid high drama and a concerted effort by the BJP to make him lose, Patel retained his Rajya Sabha seat by the skin of his teeth. He was aided by disqualification of two votes that had gone against him.

A textile merchant’s son, Patel rose up the ranks and was elected to the Lok Sabha three times from Bharuch in Gujarat. But, as hindutva became a political wave, Patel lost Bharuch in 1989 and 1991, and retreated from the heat and dust of the hustings. He, however, thrived in the power corridors of Delhi, became the most powerful person in the Congress after party president Sonia Gandhi, in the meantime returning to Parliament by winning a Rajya Sabha seat in 1996.

Yet, in the election this August, this influential backroom strategist has had to mop up votes of his own party MLAs. It was a measure of hard times faced by the Congress.

It was while contesting a Lok Sabha seat in 1977 that Patel caught Sanjay Gandhi’s eye. Patel had then insisted that Indira Gandhi, who had become unpopular because of the Emergency, should address a rally in his constituency. He later became close to Rajiv, partly because of his roots in Bharuch, the ancestral hometown of Rajiv’s father, Feroze Gandhi. Rajiv made Patel party general secretary as well as his parliamentary secretary. Patel also won Sonia’s unwavering trust, and he was among those who exhorted her to enter politics.