Summary:
Rajkot, Apr 23 (PTI) Influential Patidar leader Naresh Patel, who heads Shree Khodaldham Temple Trust, on Saturday said he had met poll strategist Prashant Kishor in New Delhi but has not finalised the party he may join ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections.
Amid speculation that he may join Congress at the behest of Kishor, Patel said that he will take a final call on which political party to join based on a public opinion survey being conducted by a committee of the Shree Khodaldham Trust (SKT).
Patel has said that leaders from all the three parties (Congress, AAP and BJP) had met him.
Kishor is learnt to have suggested top Congress leadership to induct Patel into Congress ahead of elections, due in December this year, sources said.
Notably, quota spearhead and Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel had recently questioned the "delay" by Congress leadership over the induction of Naresh Patel into the party fold.
The SKT headed by Patel manages the affairs of the Shree Khodaldham temple dedicated to the goddess Khodiyar in the Rajkot district, the patron deity of the Leuva Patel community.