New Delhi: Gujarat Patidar quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel on Wednesday said he has resigned as the Gujarat Congress working president as well as from the party’s primary membership.
The decision comes before the Gujarat assembly elections, later this year.
Patel submitted his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The letter, tweeted by him, is fiercely critical of the Congress, which recently completed a three-day brainstorming session in Rajasthan to revive the party.
“Today, after mustering courage, I am resigning from the party post and primary membership of the Congress. I hope my followers and people of Gujarat will welcome my step. I believe that I will be able to serve the state better after this step,” he tweeted.
आज मैं हिम्मत करके कांग्रेस पार्टी के पद और पार्टी की प्राथमिक सदस्यता से इस्तीफा देता हूँ। मुझे विश्वास है कि मेरे इस निर्णय का स्वागत मेरा हर साथी और गुजरात की जनता करेगी। मैं मानता हूं कि मेरे इस कदम के बाद मैं भविष्य में गुजरात के लिए सच में सकारात्मक रूप से कार्य कर पाऊँगा। pic.twitter.com/MG32gjrMiY
— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) May 18, 2022
In the letter, Patel claims that Congress leaders had lost grassroots connect and were more intent upon ensuring timely “chicken sandwich for leaders who have come from Delhi.”
“Senior leaders behave in a way like they hate Gujarat and Gujaratis,” Patel also said.
Adding fuel to rumours that he is likely to join Bharatiya Janata Party, Patel also accused Congress of opposing “whatever the government of India led by Narendra Modi did”.
With Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani and former Radhanpur MLA Alpesh Thakore, Patel had formed a trio of young leaders who had emerged BJP’s main challengers in Gujarat. Thakore had left Congress and joined the saffron party in 2019. Mevani, an independent who supports Congress, has recently been charged in a number of cases, one of which a court expressly labelled as “false”.
Patel had been one of the working presidents of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. The 2022 Gujarat assembly polls are likely to be the first elections which he can contest. Charged in various cases related to the Patidar quota agitation, he had not been able to contest either the last assembly and 2019 parliamentary polls. He has since been cleared of all charges.
Patel had recently been critical of the Congress and in late April, dropped the party’s name from his Twitter description.