Hardik Patel joining BJP or AAP? Here's what Gujarat Patidar leader says

Hardik Patel had on Wednesday resigned from the Congress, claiming top leaders of the party were distracted by their mobile phones and that Gujarat Congress leaders were more interested in arranging chicken sandwiches for them.

Ahmedabad: A day after resigning from the Congress, Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Thursday said he has not taken any decision yet on joining any other party, be it the ruling BJP in Gujarat or the new entrant AAP. Addressing a press conference here, Patel (28) claimed that Congress had no vision and that leaders of the party were biased against the Gujarati people.

Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls due later this year, Patel on Wednesday resigned from the Congress, claiming top leaders of the party were distracted by their mobile phones and that Gujarat Congress leaders were more interested in arranging chicken sandwiches for them.

Asked if he would join the BJP or the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, Patel on Thursday said, "I have not taken any decision as of now on joining any political party, be it the BJP or AAP."

Hitting out at the Congress, he said the party never speaks anything on the issues concerning Hindus, such as the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or on the issue of a 'Shivling' (said to be) found in a mosque in Varanasi.

"Moreover, the Gujarat Congress is too much into caste-based politics. I wasted my three years in this party," Patel said. He claimed the Congress had no vision and that leaders of the party were biased against Gujarati people, like "Adani and Ambani".

On Wednesday, in his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, he had accused the party's top leadership of behaving as if they hated Gujarat and Gujaratis, and said he was quitting as the state Congress working president and from the party's primary membership.

Patel gained prominence in 2015 after he led the agitation seeking reservation for the Patidar community in the state.

He was made the Gujarat Congress working president in July 2020.