Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly election due later this year, Patidar leader Hardik Patel has confirmed that he will be joining the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), news agency ANI reported. Patel has recently quit the Congress party. He would be joining BJP on June 2.
After exiting the Congress, Patel slammed the party leadership for the derogatory remarks against the "Hindus and Lord Ram".
The Patidar leader, who joined the Congress in 2019, was elevated as one of the Gujarat Congress working presidents in 2020.
On May 19, Patel resigned from the party and stated that Gujarat Congress leaders were least bothered to address real issues of Gujarat but were more focussed on ensuring that the leaders who come from Delhi to Gujarat get "chicken sandwich" on time.
According to Patel, his main contention was that he was never given any meaningful work despite being the working president of the state unit. He was appointed to the post in July 2020.
"It is a fact that Congress benefited immensely in the 2017 Assembly polls due to the Patidar quota agitation (led by him). However, I was not given any responsibility even after making me working president. I was not even invited to the key meetings of the party. It never arranged my press conference during the last three years," he said.
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In the 2017 polls, the BJP had managed to retain power but its seat tally came down to 99 from 115 in 2012, while the Congress had won 77 seats, improving its tally by 16 seats in the 182-member House.
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