A day after resigning from the Congress, Patidar chief Hardik Patel on Thursday mentioned he “wasted” three years of his life within the celebration, however maintained that he has not taken a choice but on becoming a member of another political outfit, be it the ruling BJP in Gujarat or the brand new entrant AAP.
Addressing a press convention in Ahmedabad, 28-year-old Patel hailed the BJP for its efforts within the Ayodhya case and likewise appreciated it for abrogating Article 370, whereas additionally accusing the leaders of the “visionless” Congress of being biased in opposition to the Gujarati folks.
Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls due later this 12 months, Patel on Wednesday resigned from the Congress, claiming high leaders of the celebration had been distracted by their cellphones and that Gujarat Congress leaders had been extra considering arranging hen sandwiches for them.
Asked if he would be a part of the BJP or the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Patel on Thursday mentioned, “I have not taken any decision as of now on joining any political party, be it the BJP or AAP. Whatever decision I will take, it will be in the interest of the people.”
According to Patel, his fundamental competition was that he was by no means given any significant work regardless of being the working president of the state unit. He was appointed to the put up in July 2020.
“It is a fact that Congress benefited immensely in the 2017 Assembly polls due to the Patidar quota agitation (led by him). 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 mentioned.
In the 2017 polls, the BJP had managed to retain energy however its seat tally got here all the way down to 99 from 115 in 2012, whereas the Congress had received 77 seats, enhancing its tally by 16 seats within the 182-member House.
“Some 7-8 leaders have been running the show for the last 25 years in Gujarat. Second cadre leaders are not given any importance. Party just believes in the theory of use and throw. During the last 7 years, nearly 122 Congress leaders had left the party, including 30 MLAs and nearly 40 former MLAs,” mentioned Patel.
Hitting out on the Congress, he mentioned the celebration by no means speaks something on the problems regarding Hindus, such because the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or on the difficulty of a ‘Shivling’ (mentioned to be) present in a mosque in Varanasi.
“Ruling BJP’s efforts in the Ayodhya case were worth appreciating. I had welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict and my family even donated Rs 21,000 for the construction of Ram Mandir. BJP also did a good job by scrapping Article 370. I will not hesitate to appreciate what is worth appreciating,” he mentioned.
According to him, the Gujarat Congress is an excessive amount of into “caste-based politics” as he claimed that ballot tickets in addition to celebration posts are given solely on that standards. “They used to discuss how the party can be benefited if Patidar voters are further divided into Leuva and Kadva sub-castes. I regret that I wasted my three years in this party,” Patel mentioned.
Citing the examples of Patidar leaders Vitthal Radadiya and Narhari Amin, who had stop the Congress and later joined the BJP up to now, Patel alleged that the Congress all the time did injustice to the leaders from the group and sidelined them every time they turned highly effective.
The former Patidar quota agitation spearhead claimed that the Congress had no imaginative and prescient and that leaders of the celebration had been biased in opposition to Gujarati folks, like “Adani and Ambani”.
Patel additionally slammed Gujarat Congress in-charge Raghu Sharma for his assertion that he (Patel) was having some form of backdoor coping with the ruling BJP concerning the withdrawal of instances in opposition to the quota agitators.
“So, open discussions with the government about withdrawal of cases is now considered as dealing? Why does Congress never help us in that regard? If tomorrow, the government agrees to Jignesh Mevani’s demand for the withdrawal of cases against Dalit agitators, will he be accused of joining hands with BJP?” requested Patel.
Referring to the Congress’s Chintan Shivir held lately in Rajasthan, Patel mentioned the celebration must do chinta (fear) as an alternative of chintan (brainstorming) because it lacks any imaginative and prescient in addition to formulation to win the elections.
On Wednesday, in his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, he had accused the celebration’s high management of behaving as in the event that they hated Gujarat and Gujaratis, and mentioned he was quitting because the state Congress working president and from the celebration’s main membership.
Patel had gained prominence in 2015 after he led the agitation searching for reservation for the Patidar group within the state.
(With PTI inputs)
Source: www.financialexpress.com”