What Next, Hardik Patel? A Prashant Kishor Offer, Praise For Kejriwal

Udaipur, Rajasthan: In the five days since he was freed from a jail in Gujarat, Hardik Patel has been short on down time.

He was given 48 hours to leave the state - a condition set by the court for his bail. Before then, he says, he toured 14 districts and met 40 lakh people.

A day before he turns 23, Mr Patel, now in Udaipur, said he's busy with an assortment of political offers, all of them from staunch opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP.

"I'm like a young person who has come of age," said Mr Patel to NDTV, "every party thinks of me as a prospective partner, (but) I am just looking." Ordered into exile from Gujarat for six months, Mr Patel said he has been invited to Maharashtra ("by Uddhav and Aditya Thackeray, but I won't go there"), Uttar Pradesh ("yes, Prashant Kishor has called me") and Delhi ("I am impressed with Arvind Kejriwal").
 Mr Patel was jailed in October after stumping the BJP in Gujarat with a vast and deeply coordinated movement of the Patidars or Patels, long-time supporters of the party. Brandishing a sword, a turbaned Mr Patel filled huge public parks as he accused the BJP of betraying his community and taking it for granted by excluding it from affirmative action policies for government jobs and seats in colleges.

An ill-advised and badly handled arrest late at night incited arson attacks in a series of towns Mr Patel was later charged with sedition and put in jail in Surat. Though the Patidar movement has appeared listless in recent months, Mr Patel has established himself as a gripping orator, capable of political duelling with heavyweights.

Prashant Kishor, who worked on the PM's campaign in 2014, is now a frontline election strategist of the Congress as it bids for Uttar Pradesh. Mr Kishor, whose pitch for a Brahmin face persuaded the party to nominate Sheila Dikshit for Chief Minister, "has called me," said Mr Patel, pointing out that his community is linked closely to the Kurmis, a powerful and large agricultural caste in UP. Mr Kishore's group, I-PAC, however strongly denied that they had contacted Hardik.
 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is campaigning in Punjab and Gujarat, has "done good work in the last two years," Mr Patel said.

However, he said, he is disinclined to accept an invite from Uddhav and Aditya Thackeray, who lead the Shiv Sena, which go-verns Maharashtra with the BJP. Mr Patel said like the Sena founder Bal Thackeray, he would like to draw people to him, rather than travel.

Of the PM, Mr Patel offered the same criticism as most other Modi opponents - that he is an "NRI PM" who spends too much time abroad and should care about farmer suicides and "stop talking of his 56-inch chest".

In addition to remaining outside Gujarat, Mr Patel has assured the courts that his agitation will remain peaceful. "If the judiciary, bureaucracy and others are not effective," he said, "thokashahi (violence) will happen."