Sharing an old picture with Patel, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Motilal Vora wrote: “The news of the demise of senior Congress leader, Rajya Sabha MP Mr. Ahmed Patel, is very sad. This is an irreparable damage to the country, to the entire Congress family and to me personally. May God give peace to the departed soul and the strength to his family to bear the loss” in a tweet in Hindi.
Ahmed Patel died on Wednesday due to Covid-19 complications. The announcement of his unfortunate demise was made by his son Faisal Patel. As per reports, Ahmed Patel passed away at around 3:30 am on November 25. He had tested positive about a month ago.
Notably, Vora too was infected by the pandemic virus. In the month of October, Vora had tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the national capital.
Patel had taken over as party's treasurer after Vora
Ahmed Patel and Motilal Vora’s camaraderie dates back to old Congress days. Patel had succeeded Vora as the treasurer of party in 2018. Before that Vora had been treasurer of the party for 18 years.
Incidentally, Vora had taken over as party treasurer in 2000 from Ahmed Patel. Patel was on that post from 1996-2000 when Sitaram Kesri was the head of the party and then in the initial years of Sonia Gandhi’s leadership.
Born in Bharuch, on August 21, 1949 in Gujarat, Patel was one of the youngest leaders during his time when he was picked by Rajjv Gandhi to lead the Gujarat Congress. He later joined Rajiv's team as the parliamentary secretary, and after Sonia Gandhi took over he became her closest confidante and the only channel to reach her.
(additional inputs from agencies)