Provide package for Patels without disturbing present OBC: Congress

Congress on Thursday said it favoured a "suitable package" for the agitating Patels in Gujarat but one that does not disturb the share of other communities which get reservation under the OBC category.

"We are of the view that the 27 per cent of the OBC quota decision that is being implemented for the past few decades should not be disturbed. We sympathise with the demand of the Patel community," Congress General Secretary Gurudas Kamat told reporters here.

Without disturbing communities that come under the OBC category, Kamat said a solution should be found by the government by talking to leaders of the community. Kamat, who is in-charge of party affairs in Gujarat, said the party wanted a "suitable package - economic or otherwise" so that the agitating Patel community felt satisfied.

The AICC General Secretary said that the party has been constantly in touch with the state leadership since the agitation over the issue of reservation broke out.

An uneasy calm prevailed in Gujarat on Thursday after two days of violence during the OBC quota stir of Patel community even as death toll rose to 10 and a defiant Hardik Patel vowed to intensify the agitation.