Influential Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Thursday joined the BJP in Gujarat two weeks after quitting the Congress, giving a boost to the party Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state which would go to polls by the year-end.
Patel, who led a violent agitation in 2015 in the state demanding OBC job quota for the Patels and was a trenchant critic of Modi, said in a tweet before joining the saffron party "Today, I am going to start a new chapter keeping in mind the interest of the nation, region, society and community. I will work as a small soldier in the development work of the nation being carried out under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
Speaking to newspersons after joining the BJP in Gujarat, Patel, 29, said he joined the BJP without any expectation of getting a poll ticket and that he would serve as a "common worker" and "soldier" of the party. He also claimed that he left the Congress as it "does not respect people's sentiments and distances itself from religious issues concerning crores of Hindus".
Patel was welcomed into the party fold by BJP's Gujarat unit president C R Patil and former deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.
Around two dozen cases, including that of sedition , rioting and arson, were lodged against him by the Gujarat government during the Patidar agitation for reservation quota. The Supreme Court recently stayed his conviction in one of the cases. Some of the cases have now been withdrawn by the government.
He had joined the Congress in 2019 and was made the working president of its state unit in July 2020. However, he resigned from the party on May 18.
Congress has charged Patel with crossing over to the BJP under pressure from the saffron party.
Speaking at a press conference Patel said, "Congress used to distance itself from religious issues concerning crores of Hindus. That is the reason why I left Congress. I urge leaders of other parties to join BJP and contribute towards nation building."
The young leader claimed it was a "home coming" for him as his late father Bharatbhai Patel used to work for former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel when she contested the Assembly poll from Mandal seat in 1990s.
Responding to a question whether he joined the BJP to save himself from two sedition cases against him and prove himself to be a "deshbhakt" instead of a "deshdrohi", Patel said he was always a patriot and would accept the court orders.
"Even when I was in Congress, I had praised PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for scrapping Article 370 and over the issue of Ram mandir," he added.
When asked if he would apologise for the violence and damage to public property during the Patidar quota agitation, Patel said there was no question of apologising as the agitation was initiated for the benefit of the people.
The joining of Patel will strengthen BJP’s poll prospects in Gujarat which it has been ruling for last 27 years.
Besides, the Congress which is the main rival of the BJP, the Arvind Kejriwal –led AAP too will be contesting the Gujarat assembly polls and may dent the Congress votes, giving advantage to the BJP.
BJP replaced Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on September 11, 2021 with new incumbent Bhupendra Patel, seeking to mitigate around three decades of anti-incumbency.