Ahmed Patel had links with hospital linked to terrorists: BJP

The BJP on Saturday accused Ahmed Patel of having "deep relations" with a Gujarat hospital where an alleged ISIS operative worked before his arrest, even as the Congress defended its senior leader, dubbing the demand for his resignation from the Rajya Sabha as "outrageous".

Cops keep vigil at the Magen Abraham Synagogue in Ahmedabad on Saturday, after it was revealed that the two suspected ISIS operatives arrested on Friday had allegedly planned to carry out a 'one wolf' attack on the synagogue

Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is in the eye of a political storm after Gujarat ATS arrested two suspected Islamic State operatives from Surat for allegedly planning terror attacks. One of them was Kasim Stimberwala, who worked as a laboratory tec­h­nician at Sardar Patel Hospital in Ankleshwar, with which Patel had been associated as a trustee. "Patel has deep relations with the hospital since 1979.

Ahmed Patel. Pics/PTI and AFP

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi owe an explanation to the people [on this issue]," Union minister and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram called the demand for Patel's resignation, as demanded by some BJP leaders, as "outrageous" and the allegations as "baseless".