Guwahati: Former Congress politician Hardik Patel formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today in Gandhinagar, ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections.
The 28-year-old Patidar leader left the Congress party on May 18. He joined the party in the presence of Gujarat BJP head CR Patil.
Patel’s departure is a major setback for the Congress in this election year, especially after failures in five state assembly elections. Gujarat will hold elections later this year. He rose to attention in 2015 after leading a campaign for Patidar caste quotas in jobs and education. He is regarded as the face of the Patidar community and a staunch BJP supporter.
He is considered to have played a crucial role in the Congress winning 77 seats and limiting the BJP to 99 seats in the 182-member legislature in the 2017 Assembly elections. However, since then, the Congress has lost 14 legislators to the BJP as a result of defections and by-election losses. In the Gujarat Assembly, the Congress now has 63 lawmakers.
Patel joined the Congress in March 2019, just before the Lok Sabha election, and was named Gujarat’s working president almost immediately.
Patel has been accused by the Congress of singing the BJP’s song, claiming that his resignation letter was “dictated by the BJP.” Shaktisinh Gohil, a Gujarat Congress politician, reminded Patel of his previous criticism of the BJP.