Forty-one-year-old Faisal Patel, son of top Congress strategist Ahmed Patel who succumbed to Covid-19 in November 2020, on Tuesday asserted through a Tweet that he had run out of patience with Congress and was keeping his options open.
“Tired of waiting around. No encouragement from the top brass. Keeping my options open,” Faisal wrote in a terse Twitter message on Tuesday. Though he didn’t name the Congress, it was quite obvious his reference was to the Congress leadership.
It is widely being speculated that his one option could be joining the Aam Aadmi Party. This belief was fuelled by a picture of him meeting AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal that he tweeted in 2021 and even praised his work in Delhi.
While he chose not to speak on the AAP speculation except that the picture was of 2021, Patel indicated to a section of the media in Delhi that by stating to keep his options open, he meant leaving politics and sharpening his focus on his business.
He was apparently referring to a generic drug distributorship he founded in 2004 by the name Zion Distribution as well as his latest venture Aria Analytics, a data analytics firm he co-founded recently.
That this Tweet was written apparently in a huff was proved by a picture Faisal Patel tweeted with the family of veteran Congress leader AK Antony.
The senior Congress leader’s son Anil K Antony, who is also the Congress’s national coordinator of social media and digital communications besides being Patel’s close friend, tweeted that Faisal was a “forever part of our family” and will remain so, and will work for rebuilding the Congress.
Faisal Patel had announced on Twitter on January 30 last year that he would continue to “work on existing social initiatives” and no political ambitions.
However, On March 27, Faisal Patel announced on Twitter that he would tour the 7 assembly seats of Bharuch and Narmada districts from 1 April. “My team will assess the current reality of the political situation and will make major changes if needed to accomplish our main goal- win all 7 seats god willing,” he said in the post. Three days later, he posted a second message, to announce that his tour was being deferred “as the holy month of Ramadan is about to begin in a few days”.
When contacted, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the Congress party was firmly with Ahmed Patel’s son and there was no question of giving him a short shrift.
