Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Thursday said he was ready to support the Congress in the Gujarat Assembly election, which will be held in December. Patel told the Hindustan Times that senior Congress leaders had assured him they would support his community’s demand for reservations in jobs and education.

However, a formal announcement is likely to be made next week after Patel meets Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi will be in Gujarat from November 1 to 3. “I am sure [that] in that meeting he will promise OBC [Other Backward Classes] status if the Congress is voted to power in Gujarat,” Patel told the newspaper. His Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti will then declare its support for the Congress.

He said Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who is in charge of the party’s campaign in Gujarat, was among those who had assured him of support in his community’s agitation for reservations.

He, however, ruled out joining the Congress. At 24, Patel himself is not old enough to contest elections, but said none of the members of his group would contest either.

Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party had been trying to gain the support of the Patel community ahead of the Assembly election. On October 21, the Congress had invited Patel to join forces against the BJP, which has been in power in Gujarat for the past two decades.

A day later, Narendra Patel, a convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, alleged that he was offered Rs 1 crore to cross over to the BJP.