In all likelihood, youth leader from Gujarat Hardik Patel is all set to join the Bhartiya Janta Party on June 2, 2022. As reported by news agency ANI, the leader has himself confirmed his entry into the BJP, ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections next year.
Hardik Patel to join BJP on 2nd June – he confirms to ANI. He had recently quit Congress. pic.twitter.com/xtgGjQ9hhm
— ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2022
Amidst talks of Hardik Patel deflecting to the BJP ahead of Gujarat assembly polls, the leader has finally laid speculations to rest. This comes after he left the Congress earlier on May 18 citing the party has ‘lack of seriousness’ towards issues of national importance.
In his resignation letter to interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he expressed that the Congress party has restricted itself to opposition politics. He claimed that the country desired a solution in the form of such decisions, whether it be the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the CAA-NRC, the removal of Article 370 from Kashmir, or the implementation of GST, but the Congress party has always objected to such matters.
आज मैं हिम्मत करके कांग्रेस पार्टी के पद और पार्टी की प्राथमिक सदस्यता से इस्तीफा देता हूँ। मुझे विश्वास है कि मेरे इस निर्णय का स्वागत मेरा हर साथी और गुजरात की जनता करेगी। मैं मानता हूं कि मेरे इस कदम के बाद मैं भविष्य में गुजरात के लिए सच में सकारात्मक रूप से कार्य कर पाऊँगा। pic.twitter.com/MG32gjrMiY
— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) May 18, 2022
On a similar note, he had praised the BJP in April while saying, “The BJP has a good, strong base. They have the capability of making decisions. The BJP is strong because they have leadership qualities and they take correct decisions.” However, he had denied the rumours of joining the BJP then.
Hardik Patel was touted as a challenge to Narendra Modi’s Vikas model in Gujarat, by spearheading the Patidar quota agitation as a core issue in the state elections of 2017. He formed the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) founder in 2017 at the bare age of 22 and later joined the Congress in 2019. A year later he was appointed President of the Gujarat Congress Working Committee.
He was convicted in a sedition case in 2015 Mehsana riot case. However, the Supreme Court has stayed its conviction.
However, Patel has now assessed the winds of change and is all set to join the BJP on June 2, in presence of senior party leaders.
