Sonia's gatekeeper, Gujarat's boss

AHMEDABAD: There are only two kinds of Congressmen today: those on this, or that side of Ahmed Patel, who controls access to 10 Janpath.
Small wonder then, that this 54-year-old political survivor, who grew up in a village near Ankleshwar, which knows him as ''Babu'' Patel, never returned home after tasting politics in Delhi in 1977, when he first became MP.
Now, a member of the Central Election Committee (CEC) and the political secretary of ''Madam'', Patel is the guy every Congress ticket-seeker has to reckon with during election time.
At the national level, he is seen as a trouble-shooter. In Gujarat, his detractors blame him for all the problems that beset the Congress.
Patel became all-powerful in May last year, when Sonia relieved Ambika Soni, who till then had shared responsibility with him, to make Patel her only political secretary.
Along with that, Patel took charge of two states where the Congress is in power: Kerala and Delhi.
By now everyone in the Gujarat Congress knows that the only way to the hallowed precincts of 10 Janpath is after collecting a parchi from gatekeeper Patel.
"In a nutshell, whatever is happening in Gujarat and whatever will happen in Gujarat, will be because of Ahmedbhai", says a Congress MLA who wants a parliamentary seat. Rapport with Patel, not just merit, could be important during distribution of Congress tickets in Gujarat.
Patel however, plays down his role, "This is all baseless talk. Frankly, I don''t interfere much in ticket distribution."
Known for his amazing PR skills, Patel is also known to keep his temper on leash, come what may. As a Muslim, Patel didn''t take a stance during the 2002 communal riots. Was that cool, or does it point to potentially disastrous aloofness from reality?
It was veteran Congressman Harisinh Mahida and Jinabhai Darji, a close confidant of Indira Gandhi, who picked Patel soon after he graduated to join the bandwagon of young turks in the Congress in the early 70s.
Since then Ahmedbhai, as his familiars call him, was Lok Sabha MP thrice, in 1977, 1980 and 1985 till he lost the seat to a BJP man in 1989. During his third term Rajiv Gandhi appointed him parliamentary secretary and this was Patel''s initiation into the Congress'' corridors of power.
Today, Patel is shunned by his people in communally-polarised Bharuch. So, he''s ensconsed himself in Delhi after a brief stint as president of the Gujarat PCC in 1986-88.
"He was offered ministership by Indira as well as Rajiv Gandhi. But he never took it, because he realised the importance of not being a minister", says a Congress leader.
Patel got close to the Gandhis and remained low-profile-a combination that won him the confidence of Sonia. "He also saw to it that nobody else from Gujarat made it that big in the Delhi set-up", says a party member.