With Gujarat polls slated for the yearend, Congress is trying to woo Shree Khodaldham Trust chairman Naresh Patel to lead the party. Patel, an industrialist and an important figure in the Patidar community, heads the trust that built the Khodiyar Mata temple at Kagwad in Saurashtra. Khodiyar Mata is the reigning deity of the Leuva Patels.

If he joins Congress, the party plans to project the assembly polls as a ‘battle between a Gujarati Patel and Maharashtrian Patil’. However, BJP, aiming at staging its best electoral show, and the Aam Aadmi Party are also in touch with Patel. He has already indicated his interest in joining electoral politics but has been less than forthcoming about his choice of party and has maintained a suspense till now.

For Congress, Patel could be a great catch as it aims to regain the support of the Patidar community, whose disenchantment towards BJP had helped Congress put up its best electoral show in a quarter century in 2017. At present, the Congress unit is fighting an existential battle, as AAP steadily chips away at its support base. AAP registered its presence in the Surat municipal elections, largely on the support of the Patidar community.

Senior Congress leaders that ET spoke to maintained that AICC, through its leaders from Rajasthan, was negotiating with Patel. A senior leader said time was running out for Congress. “Our workers are demoralised as the party failed to respond to the ground situations with spontaneity they deserved. Now there’s a small window of opportunity, but if Nareshbhai takes a long time to decide, it may be lost too.”