Hardik Patel likely to quit Congress soon

Patel gained prominence during Patidar agitation in 2015, and subsequently joined Congress and was appointed the youngest working president of the Gujarat unit of the party.

“I am still in Congress; but if the party doesn’t use me the way it should, I may have to think otherwise,” he told ET.

Patel’s latest heartache seems to have stemmed from the national exposure compatriot Jignesh Mevani gained after the Assam Police arrested him. The manner in which Congress galvanised support for Mevani has riled Patel, according to people close to him. Patel never managed to get much support from Congress after cases were slapped against him by the Gujarat government in the wake of Patidar agitation.

He has, however, been restive for a while, since he never managed to gain a foothold in the core edifice of Gujarat Congress in spite of Rahul Gandhi appointing him working president. Senior leaders were unhappy with his appointment, and Patel, for all practical purposes, remained aloof and largely operated alone. While many of his candidates fielded as Congress nominees in 2017 romped home, he expected he would be able to have a major say for the assembly polls scheduled for the yearend.

With the new leadership of the state unit unyielding, Patel has started looking for options. Recently, he said that there was ‘no greater Hindutvavadi’ than him, during a media interaction. He also lavished praise on BJP for reading down Article 370 and for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.