New Delhi: A day after tendering his resignation from the grand old party, former Gujarat Congress leader Hardik Patel on Thursday dismissed talks of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “I am not in the BJP yet and have not taken any decision to go,” Patel told the media in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city, ANI reported. Patel, who resigned after days of sulking, said that he decided to quit after being ignored by the Congress top brass, including Rahul Gandhi.
“There are discussions in party that people will vote for Congress when they get bored. I had spoken to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and mentioned Gujarat's problems. He asked me and I told him,” Patel said.
“That's when I was ignored. I decided to leave the party not with sadness but courage,” he added.
Patel said several leaders in Gujarat are angry with the Congress.
“In Gujarat, it’s not only Hardik who is angry with the Congress. There are many leaders and legislators in Gujarat who use Congress. Sitting in power and praising the party does not mean that the party can make them the CM,” he said.
The former Gujarat Congress leader said around seven to eight people have been running the grand old party for 33 years.
“Activists like me travel 500-600 km daily. If I go among the people and try to know their situation, the big leaders here try to disrupt this effort by sitting in the AC chambers,” said Patel.
“In Gujarat, whether it’s the Patidar community or any other community, they have had to suffer in Congress. Speak the truth in Congress and big leaders will defame you and that is their strategy,” he added.
Patel, who resigned from the Congress ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections to be held later this year, rose to prominence earlier in July 2015 by leading a Patidar reservation movement.