PM Modi to hit home turf on May 28 as BJP woos Patidars in Gujarat

Vibha Sharma

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New Delhi, May 19

Preparing for Assembly election in Gujarat this year, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to keep by its side the politically critical Patidars of the Saurashtra, a region that proved to be among the weakest links in 2017.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the KD Parvadiya Hospital, the first multi-specialty hospital in Jasdan taluka in the Rajkot district on May 28.

“Top” Patidar leaders are expected to be present at the inauguration of the hospital built by Patel Seva Samaj, a charitable trust headed by former MLA and BJP leader Bharat Boghra.

Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil said around three lakh people will be present at the PM’s first visit to the Saurashtra after the covid-19 pandemic.

The buzz is that young Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who resigned from the Congress on Wednesday, could be one of them, though, the AAP is also believed to be pursuing him and Naresh Patel, an influential social worker and chairman of Shree Khodaldham Trust, who, too, is yet to disclose which political party he will join.

Though the BJP managed to retain power in the PM’s home state in 2017, the Patidar agitation and farmers’ discontent had handed an advantage to the opposition Congress saffron stronghold, observers say.