'PM's soldier', Hardik Patel joins BJP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 2

Days after he quit the Congress, Patidar leader Hardik Patel today joined the BJP in Gujarat, praising PM Narendra Modi and promising to serve as a “common worker and soldier”. Once a vocal critic of the BJP and PM Modi, the 28-year-old leader said he was joining the party without any expectation. “I joined the party as a sepoy in Narendrabhai’s army,” he said.

May help BJP beat anti-incumbency

• Hardik Patel belongs to politically crucial Patidar community of Saurashtra
• Move comes ahead of elections to Gujarat’s 182-member Vidhan Sabha
• Saurashtra was among the weakest links for BJP in the 2017 Assembly elections
• Party banking on Patel to help thwart anti-incumbency

The move comes ahead of the elections to the 182-member Assembly, where the BJP has held the fort since March 1998. Patel belongs to the politically crucial Patidars of Saurashtra, the region that was among the weakest links for the BJP in the 2017 elections. Patel is said to have played a “key role” in helping the Congress win 77 seats and restricting the BJP to 99. The BJP is banking on Patel to help thwart anti-incumbency.

Patel was welcomed by state leaders CR Paatil and Nitin Patel in Gandhinagar. He said he left the Congress as it “does not respect people’s sentiments and distances itself from religious issues concerning crores of Hindus”.

Patel urged leaders of other parties to join and contribute towards nation-building. On whether he joined the BJP to save himself from sedition cases against him, Patel said he was always a patriot and would accept the court orders.

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