'Future Of Gujarat People Lies With AAP': Former Quota Agitation Leader Reshma Patel Joins Party

Reshma Patel was a prominent face of the committee that organised the agitation for the Patidar quota in 2015 in Gujarat. 

Reshma Patel with AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal

Source : Twitter/ReshmaPatel

Former Patidar quota agitation leader Reshma Patel joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday, saying she wanted to dedicate her energy and time to "a party with which the future of the people of Gujarat lies". Patel joined AAP a day after she resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party over not being a denied a ticket for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, PTI reported.

Gujarat will vote on December 1 and 5 for a new government. The results will be declared on December 8.

Reshma Patel was inducted into the party by AAP Rajya Sabha MP and Gujarat co-incharge Raghav Chadha. Chadha said Patel was a prominent face of the committee that organised the agitation for the Patidar quota in 2015 in Gujarat. 

While talking to the media, Chadha said, "I am sure that a personality like hers will greatly benefit the AAP and make its Gujarat unit very strong. It is for the AAP's political affairs committee to decide which candidate will contest from where. Patel's induction into the AAP will not just make an impact on one seat, in one district, but in the whole of Gujarat."

Patel said she had always raised the voice for the poor and oppressed people and praised the leadership of AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal.

"Arvind Kejriwal has himself come out of a movement. It means he can understand the feelings of the agitators, and that is why today I have joined the AAP. I am sure that under the leadership of Kejriwal and with the dedication of the AAP workers, I will be able to increase my strength and work for the people," PTI quoted Patel as saying.

The NCP and Congress had recently announced their pre-poll alliance under which three seats would be contested for by the Sharad Pawar-led party in the upcoming election. NCP will be contesting from Umreth (Anand district), Naroda (Ahmedabad), and Devgarh Baria (Dahod district).

Patel, who oversaw the Gujarat NCP's women's wing, intended to contest from the Gondal seat in the district of Rajkot. A day prior to the announcement of the Congress-NCP alliance, she had declared she would submit her candidacy from the seat.

Patel was a key member of the Hardik Patel-led quota agitation outfit --Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) -- which spearheaded the quota agitation movement for the community in 2015.

She joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the last Gujarat Assembly election in December 2017 but quit in 2019 and joined the NCP.

While joining BJP, she claimed that Hardik Patel was a "Congress agent" who was attempting to exploit the agitation to topple the BJP administration.

Earlier this year, Hardik Patel joined the BJP. He has been given the ticket by the party from Viramgam seat in Ahmedabad district

(With inputs from PTI)