Hardik Patel to be Shiv Sena's face in Gujarat Assembly polls: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday announced that Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel would be his party's face in Gujarat Assembly Elections.

Thackeray's statement came after holding talks with Hardik Patel at his residence Matoshree.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader and Uddhav Thackeray's elder son Aaditya Thackeray took to Twitter and said: "Hardikbhai and Uddhav ji discussed their respective views on fight against social injustice and the way forward."

As per a report in DNA, Patel will be addressing Shiv Sena's public meeting at Goregaon, a suburb consisting of Gujarati voters mostly, this evening.

Notably, Goregaon is BJP leader and former deputy mayor Dilip Patel's constituency.

Shiv Sena's decision comes just ahead of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections which will take place on February 21.

Shiv Sena and BJP are fighting the civic polls separately.

Firebrand Patidar leader Hardik Patel returned to Gujarat in January after six months in exile with a renewed vigour to continue his fight for reservation to his community, asserting that if it was not granted, "we know how to snatch it".

Hardik Patel, 23, who has been fighting for reservations to the Patidars under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category in government jobs and educational institutions for the last one and a half years, was externed from the State on Gujarat High Court orders following sedition charges on him in July last.