Ahmedabad: Hardik Patel, the leader of the Patel quota agitation who is on protest hunger strike while in judicial custody, has been admitted to hospital after he complained of dizziness, officials said on Saturday.
Medical staff overseeing Patel at the prison ward of the New Civil Hospital in Surat said his condition was normal.
The 23-year-old leader and convener of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) was brought from the Lajpore jail in Surat to the hospital on Friday night after he complained of breathlessness and weakness, said hospital superintendent Mahesh Vadel.
The Patel leader, who was to begin his fast on Saturday, launched it on Thursday itself after the parents of three of his associates submitted a letter to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel that the group was willing to talk peace with the state government.
The letter that was signed by nearly two dozen people carried Hardik Patel’s name, but significantly, not his signature.
Hospital superintendent Vadel said the doctors conducted various tests on Patel and he was normal now.
However, Patel has been kept under observation at the hospital.
Vadel said Patel agreed to consume water on the instructions of the doctors.
The PAAS leader has been in judicial custody for over five months after being slapped with sedition cases in Ahmedabad and Surat.
His three associates, whose fathers submitted the letter to the chief minister, are also in judicial custody on sedition charges.
According to sources, Patel is in no mood for a compromise with the state government unless the demand for reservation to the Patel community is met — which was why he went on a fast from Thursday.
Meanwhile, the administration has refused permission for a pro-quota women’s rally by PAAS in Mehsana city on February 29, citing law and order issues.
The PAAS challenged this in the Gujarat High Court, where Justice Sonia Gokani told the authorities to take a decision whether to allow the rally by February 25 and inform the petitioners by email.
–IANS