New Delhi: Ahmed Patel, who is known to be the Congress party's most dependable crisis director, was re-chosen to the Rajya Sabha for the fifth term in a nail-biting challenge in which he vanquished Balwantsinh Rajput of the BJP.
Rajput had before resigned as Congress administrator to go up against Patel. Be that as it may, Rajput lost the appointive challenge which has turned into a 'clash of eminence' for the Congress and the BJP in front of pivotal gathering races in Gujarat.
The triumph for the four-term senior Congress administrator Ahmed Patel was difficult as the Election Commission needed to invalidate two votes of Congress MLAs who were caught on camera demonstrating their vote to a BJP survey specialist.
In spite of the high-voltage show, Patel's triumph comes as significant help for the Congress party, which is seeing a continuous disintegration in its voter base with Narendra Modi-drove BJP's ascent after the 2014 Lok Sabha decisions.
Patel, who has for quite some time been known as the "private cabin kid" of the Congress, had been at the focal point of consideration in political circles in the current weeks in perspective of the pivotal Rajya Sabha surveys . However, races for the Upper House are for the most part tranquil, yet due to in-battling and insubordination by a segment of Congress pioneers in Gujarat, the decisions this time had put Patel's renown on stake.
Patel, who has been the political secretary of Congress boss Sonia Gandhi, is a key figure in Gujarat as he is one of the main two Muslims to have been chosen from the Lok Sabha in Gujarat. The other Muslim MP who was chosen to Lok Sabha was late Ehsan Jafri, who was slaughtered in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
As an unmistakable individual from the 'old protect' of the party, Patel has remained a steady and committed individual from Congress. Patel had even undermined to resign from open life when PM Narendra Modi alluded to him as a dear "companion" in one of his talks.
Patel was first chosen to Lok Sabha when the counter Congress wave cleared India in the 1977 General Elections. Patel was only 26-years of age at that point. He went ahead to win the following two Lok Sabha races from Bharuch.
Patel, who is notable for his hierarchical aptitudes, is viewed as a position of safety yet exceedingly powerful pioneer of the Congress party. 'Ahmedbhai', as he is called endearingly, has never yearned for pastoral positions. Amid the mid 80s, Patel turned out to be near Rajiv Gandhi who was then being prepared for a bigger part in national legislative issues.
With Rajiv Gandhi's height as Prime Minister following the death of then Prime Minister and his mom Indira Gandhi, Patel elevated to the post of Congress joint secretary. He was later made the parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister and after that the General Secretary of Congress.
After Rajiv Gandhi's death in 1991, Patel held his impact. He was chosen as an individual from the Rajya Sabha without precedent for 1993 and filled in as the treasurer of All India Congress Committee from 1996 to 2000.
Patel additionally turned into the secretary of the Congress 'think-tank' Jawahar Bhavan Trust, a brainchild of Rajiv Gandhi that was supported by Sonia Gandhi. Amid this period, Patel's nearness with Sonia Gandhi developed. Curiously, Sonia Gandhi had taken ovr the reins of the party in the late 90s and she in the end selected Patel as her Political Secretary.
Patel, a prepared government official, has likewise served in a few positions inside councils of numerous services, for example, Petroleum and Chemicals, Aviation, Human Resource Development service amid the Congress' residency at the Center.
A thrashing in Gujarat could have spelt more inconvenience for the Congress, however Patel's triumph has given a genuinely necessary lift to the party.