Hardik Patel tweets ahead of joining BJP: 'Beginning a new chapter'
PremiumFormer Congress leader Hardik Patel will join BJP today
Former Congress leader Hardik Patel will join BJP today in the presence of Gujarat party president C R Paatil. Patel's move comes ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections due later this year.
Ahead of joining BJP, Hardik Patel tweeted,"With the feelings of national interest, state interest, public interest and social interest, I am going to start a new chapter from today. I will work as a small soldier in the noble work of service to the nation under the leadership of the successful Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi."
After expressing his disappointment with the Congress for months, Hardik Patel on May 18 resigned from the party accusing the senior leadership of the Grand Old Party of disinterest in the real issues of Gujarat. He had joined the Congress in 2019 and was later made the state unit's working president.
"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," Hardik Patel said after he quit the Congress.
The BJP government also recently took steps to withdraw several cases lodged against Hardik Patel and others in connection with the 2015 quota agitation.
The BJP has been in power in the state for over two decades. Patel, 28, had in 2015 led a violent agitation seeking quota for his Patidar community and was a strong critic of the BJP in the past.