Congress hits back at Hardik Patel, claims he was 'constantly in touch with the BJP'

Ahead of Hardik Patel’s joining BJP, Congress on Wednesday hit back at the young Patidar leader. Speaking about Patel’s decision to quit the party, Gujarat Congress in-charge Raghu Sharma said that the young leader was in constant touch with the BJP while speaking to Republic. Patel, in his resignation letter sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, had opined that the party broke the trust of the youths of Gujarat as a result of which no youth wants to be associated with it anymore. 

Following his quit, Hardik Patel came out in public against the Congress leadership. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, he said that the grand old party’s leaders were enjoying abroad while the country faced challenges. Following this, Raghu Sharma has now hit back at Patel and said that the leader was constantly missing party meetings during his time there.  

“I became in charge of Gujarat six months ago. Since then, I am working in Gujarat and I have hardly had two or three meetings with Hardik. I thought he came to the party meetings but he did not come,” Sharma said while speaking about Patel. “High command knows all about Hardik. He uttered abusive words about Rahul Gandhi,” he said while adding that Patel was “constantly in touch with the BJP”.

Further slamming the former party leader, Raghu Sharma questioned Patel on why he decided to jump ships and join the BJP. “He joined congress three years ago and Congress made him the President. Did he not ask the leaders of the Patidar community about this? I can see the tweets made against Amit Shah by Hardik Patel. What happened overnight that you started cursing Rahul Gandhi?” he asked while speaking in a press conference.

Raghu Sharma speaks to Republic

Gujarat Congress in-charge Raghu Sharma spoke exclusively to Republic and said that Hardik Patel was in constant touch with BJP and top brass was aware of it. He also said, 'No loss if Hardik left'. He refuted the claims made by Hardik Patel against Congress party. Sharma further added that Patel earlier commented on PM Modi and Amit Shah while he was in Congress. 'It is true that Congress party is going through a bad phase, but Hardik Patel's departure from the Congress in Gujarat is not a loss deal', he added.

Hardik Patel's fallout with Congress

Known for spearheading the Patidar quota agitation, Hardik Patel formally joined Congress on March 12, 2019, and was appointed as the working president of the party's Gujarat unit on July 11, 2020. Despite the fact that Congress benefited from his anti-BJP campaign in the 2017 election, he publicly claimed to have been sidelined in the party. He resigned from the primary membership of Congress on May 18 after launching a scathing attack on the party leadership. For instance, he accused Congress of constantly working against the interests of the nation and society despite several attempts to steer the party in the right direction.

In his resignation letter sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he opined that the party has broken the trust of the youths of Gujarat as a result of which no youth wants to be associated with it anymore. He also alleged that Gujarat Congress leaders had diluted issues of public importance for "humungous personal financial gains". Moreover, he claimed to have faced ridicule and contempt for seeking to do something good for the state. 

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