Gujarat elections 2017: Congress releases first list of candidates

The Congress on Sunday released the first list of its 77 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly election.

The Congress on Sunday released the first list of its 77 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly election. Photo: Twitter/OfficeofRG

AHMEDABAD: The Congress on Sunday released the first list of its 77 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly election with senior leaders from the state Shaktisinh Gohil and Arjun Modhwadia getting tickets for the crucial election. Sources on Sunday said that the Congress has struck a deal with Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti for upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections and agreed to give tickets to 11 PAAS leaders. They said that PAAS has asked for 25 seats.

 Earlier on Sunday, Congress has announced that the party has reached an agreement with PAAS for upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections. Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki said the meeting with PAAS leaders on reservations to Patels yielded a "positive outcome". PAAS convener Dinesh Bambhania said Congress has accepted their demands. The official announcement about the nitty-gritty of the reservation formula and the PAAS' stand on supporting the Congress during the Gujarat polls will be announced by Hardik Patel at a public gathering in Rajkot tomorrow, Bambhania said. "Earlier, we had asked the Congress to clarify how they would grant Patidars a constitutionally valid reservation. Today, we held a crucial meeting on that issue and finally reached a consensus on various options offered by the party to us. Official announcement of this agreement will be made by Hardik tomorrow in Rajkot," said Bambhania, a key aide of Hardik Patel. "I can say that we are in agreement with the Congress about their formula of granting reservation. We have not talked anything about giving tickets to PAAS. Hardik would announce tomorrow whether PAAS would support the Congress during the polls or not," he told reporters after the meeting. The meeting was not attended by Hardik Patel but after both parties met he said they reached an agreement over the issue of granting reservation to Patels, if the Congress is voted to power in the state Assembly election. Hardik reiterated he is against BJP and will work to remove the party from power. Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki said the meeting yielded a "positive outcome". "The meeting was successful and yielded a positive outcome. We both agreed to implement this agreement in coming days," he said. A week ago PAAS leaders and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal held a meeting over the issue, following which, Hardik Patel had said he was satisfied with the three options submitted by the Congress on how the party would grant reservation to Patels if voted to power. Hardik Patel had earlier set a condition that he would support the Congress in the Assembly polls, due next month, only if the party committed itself to allotting reservation in education and government jobs to his community. The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18.

The Congress is locked in a bitter contest with the BJP in the state which has been under the saffron party's rule for over two decades. The election is to be held in two phases on December 9 and 14, and its result will be announced on December 18.