Hardik Patel to quit Congress? Meeting with Rahul Gandhi & Priyanka Vadra to decide future

Even as Congress renewed attempts to placate Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel, he didn't arrive in Udaipur to attend the Chintan Shivir on Friday. As per sources, Patel was invited to Congress' three-day brainstorming event for discussing the strategy for the Gujarat Assembly polls. However, he reportedly didn't respond to the calls of party leaders. But on Friday night, sources indicated that the leaders of the Sonia Gandhi-led party again requested him to visit Udaipur for sorting out his issues with the state leadership.

As per sources, he will take a call on his future in the party after holding a closed-door meeting with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. 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 has publicly claimed that he has been sidelined in the party.

Hardik Patel miffed with Congress

Speculation about Patel's impending exit from the Sonia Gandhi-led party gained traction after he removed 'working president of Gujarat Congress’ from his Twitter bio on May 2. His profile on the microblogging platform now only reads, 'Proud Indian Patriot. Social and Political Activist’. According to sources, Rahul Gandhi not only sent a message to Patel urging him to stay in Congress but also asked other leaders to sort out their differences with him. Rumours about the Congress leader joining BJP came in the wake of his lauding the Centre for revoking Article 370 and initiating the construction of the Ram Mandir.

However, he has made it clear that he is not upset with either Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. He is eligible to contest the Gujarat Assembly polls later this year as the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a 2015 rioting case.  In an exclusive interview with Republic TV on April 26, Patel refuted the contention that he was hankering for a post and expressed dissatisfaction over not being invited to key meetings. 

Hardik Patel explained, "We should praise the enemy (BJP) as it is very powerful in decision-making. Here, we are weak in decision-making. When we go among the people, we say that Congress should take a quick decision. When it is late, people start losing hope in us. It is 27 years now that my party is in the opposition. Why are people not giving us the love we deserve even today? This is because there is infighting, we don't take decisions on time, and we don't give opportunities to good people".