Ahmed Patel: The troubleshooter's departure leaves the Congress poorer

It may sound like a cliche but Ahmed Patel leaves a void in the party that no one can fill

Ahmed Patel, Treasurer of the Indian National Congress, MP, a close aide to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, died today at 71. He leaves behind a void that no one can fill. This may sound like a cliché. But there are few in the party today who are capable of being a bridge over troubled waters that Patel proved to be, time and again.

Ahmed Patel was just 30 when he became an MP in 1977. The Congress had been wiped out elsewhere but Gujarat had saved the day, sending a handful of MPs to