Hardik Patel to join BJP on June 2; big boost for saffron party ahead of Gujarat polls

In a big development months ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections due later this year, ex-Congress working president in the state, Hardik Patel announced that he will join BJP on June 2. Known for spearheading the Patidar quota agitation, 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. As he is eligible to contest the Gujarat polls after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a 2015 rioting case, he is likely to get a ticket from BJP. His induction into the saffron party assumes significance as he had been a vocal critic of PM Modi in the past. 

Hardik Patel tears into Congress

Accusing Congress of constantly working against the interests of the nation and society despite several attempts to steer the party in the right direction, he stressed in his resignation letter that the country required an alternative. Moreover, he opined that the Sonia Gandhi-led 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". In the letter, he claimed to have faced ridicule and contempt for seeking to do something good for the state. 

Writing to Sonia Gandhi, he noted, "Be it the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, implementation of GST- India wanted solutions for this subject for a long time and Congress only played the role of a roadblock and was always only obstructive. When it came to issues related to India, Gujarat, or the Patel community, Congress' only stand was to oppose whatever the government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji did! Congress today has been rejected in almost every state of India because the party and its leadership have not been able to present a basic roadmap to the people."

"Lack of seriousness about all issues is a major problem with the Congress party's senior leadership. Whenever I met with the senior leadership,  I always felt that leaders were not really interested in hearing about problems concerning the people of Gujarat but were more engrossed on what messages they had received on their mobile and other such trivial things. Whenever our country faced challenges and when the Congress needed leadership, Congress leaders were enjoying abroad! Some people behave in a way like they hate Gujarat and Gujaratis," he added, taking a veiled dig at Rahul Gandhi.