Gandhinagar: Hardik Patel, who resigned from the Congress yesterday, claimed he “is not in the BJP yet” and has not decided whether to join the BJP or the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He added there were many more like him who were disgruntled in the Congress in another outburst against the party.
“I am not in the BJP yet and have not taken any decision to go,” Hardik Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad.
The Patidar leader resigned from the Congress on Wednesday, citing “high leaders” being distracted by their phones and Gujarat Congress leaders being more concerned in organising chicken sandwiches for them in a blistering resignation letter directed at Rahul Gandhi.
According to BJP sources, the 28-year-old leader will join the ruling party “within a week.” According to the sources, he has been in talks with the BJP for the past two months.
“I have not taken any decision as of now on joining any political party, whether it the BJP or the AAP,” Hardik Patel stated in response to reports that he was joining the BJP or AAP.
Criticising the Congress, he said the party never spoke on “issues concerning Hindus”, such as the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or on claims of a “Shivling” found at the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
“The Gujarat Congress is too much into caste-based politics. I wasted my three years in this party,” Mr Patel said.
“It is a fact that the Congress benefited immensely in the 2017 Assembly polls due to the Patidar quota agitation. However, I was not given any responsibility even after making me working president. I was not even invited to the key meetings of the party. It never arranged my press conference during the last three years,” he said.
He said that the Congress lacked vision and that its leaders were biased against Gujaratis, such as “Adani and Ambani.”
“Seven-eight people have been running the Congress for 33 years. Activists like me travel 500-600 km daily. If I go among the people and try to know their situation, the big leaders here try to disrupt this effort by sitting in their AC rooms,” he added.
Mr Patel claimed the Congress required chinta (concern) instead of chintan (brainstorming) at its recent “Chintan Shivir” or strategy camp in Rajasthan since it “lacked any vision or formula” to win elections.
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