Hardik Patel urged leaders of other parties to come and join the BJP.
Ahmedabad (Gujarat):
Former Congress leader Hardik Patel, ahead of his BJP induction on Thursday, said he would launch a campaign to wean Congress leaders in Gujarat.
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the pride of the world, Mr Patel said after joining the BJP he would hold an event every 10 days to ask Congress leaders, including MPs, to join the BJP.
“I believe the Congress party does not want to do any kind of work. I urge the leaders of other parties to come and join the BJP. Prime Minister Modi is the pride of the whole world,” he said in s speaking to the media here. .
Mr Patel, who resigned from Congress last month, is expected to join the BJP today.
Notably, posters welcoming Mr Patel to the BJP were placed outside the party office in Gandhinagar.
“Today I am starting a new chapter. I will work like a little soldier. I have never made demands in front of anyone for a position. I am joining BJP for work,” he said .
“When people connect with the development work going on in the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, I should also do the same,” Mr Patel added.
Hardik was catapulted to political prominence in 2015 when he led the Patidar Reserve agitation in Gujarat, building the campaign ahead of the 2017 National Assembly elections.
Initially, Mr. Patel applied for OBC status for the Patidar community. Subsequently, it turned into a request for reservations for the economically weaker section (EWS). His emergence on the political scene of the state put the then Chief Minister, Anandiben Patel, in a difficult situation. In 2016, Anandiben Patel announced his resignation from the post.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Patel joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi. He was later appointed as the incumbent Chairman of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee in Gujarat in 2020. However, he accused the 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 said that the Gujarat Congress leaders were least concerned with addressing the real issues of the state but were more focused on ensuring that the leaders who come from Delhi in Gujarat get “chicken sandwich” in time.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)