Ahmed Patel in focus

Congress leader Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, called up leaders of Opposition parties including the Left parties, the Trinamool Congress and other regional parties on Wednesday night to drum up support to protest the “insult” meted out to former prime minister Manmohan Singh by PM Narendra Modi in the Rajya Sabha earlier that evening. What intrigued Opposition members was that it was Patel, who reached out to them. Usually, it is Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, who coordinates with Opposition parties, and in consultation with Congress Vice- president Rahul Gandhi, decides the party’s parliamentary strategy. In Azad’s absence, either Mallikarjun Kharge or Jyotiraditya Scindia steps in. An Opposition leader said Patel’s call to them was a signal that he was now a key member of Rahul Gandhi’s core team of advisors, and with the exception of Azad, Patel now took precedence over other leaders in the hierarchy.