Ahead of Gujarat Assembly polls, Hardik Patel joins BJP

Gandhinagar: Former Congress leader Hardik Patel, who quit the party last month, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday, months ahead of the Assembly elections in Gujarat.

He joined the BJP in the presence of party state chief CR Patil at the party head office here.

Earlier today, Patel said that he is joining the BJP to work. “Today I’m starting a new chapter. I will work as a small soldier. I have never put forth any demands before anyone for any post. I am joining the BJP to work,” he said “When people are connecting with the ongoing development works in the country under the leadership of PM Modi, then I should also do the same. PM Modi is the pride of the entire world,” Patel added.

Patel also said that he would launch a campaign to wean away Congress leaders in Gujarat.
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the pride of the world, Patel said that after joining the BJP he would do an event every 10 days to ask Congress leaders, including MLAs, to join the BJP.

Hardik catapulted to the political centre stage in 2015 when he spearheaded the Patidar reservation agitation in Gujarat, building the campaign in the run-up to the 2017 state Assembly elections.

Initially, Patel demanded the OBC status for the Patidar community. Subsequently, it was transformed into a demand for reservations for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). His emergence on the political scene in the state put the then Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in a spot. In 2016, Anandiben Patel announced her resignation from the post.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Patel joined Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi. He, was then, appointed as the working president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee in Gujarat in 2020. However, he accused Congress leadership of sidelining him while making important decisions and eventually quit the party in 2022.

On May 19 this year, Patel resigned from the party and stated that Gujarat Congress leaders were least bothered to address real issues of the state but were more focussed on ensuring that the leaders who come from Delhi to Gujarat get “chicken sandwich” on time.