The writing was on the wall, but few in the Congress could see it coming. It should have been clear from Hardik Patel deciding to skip the recently concluded Chintan Shivir held in Udaipar, a few hours’ drive from Gujarat. However, nobody made the effort to bring the popular youth leader around and join the brainstorming camp where the top party brass were huddled to chalk out a programme to put the Congress back in the reckoning. Three days later on Wednesday, Hardik Patel, the Gujarat Congress Committee Working President, resigned from the primary membership of the party. While resigning, Patel slammed the party leadership for “lack of seriousness” in his open resignation letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. Taking to Twitter, Patel posted a message in Hindi, which roughly translated as “I have mustered enough courage today to resign from the post of the Congress party and its primary membership. I firmly believe that both my comrades and the people of Gujarat will welcome my decision. I also believe that after taking this step, I would be able to work for Gujarat in a positive way in real sense in the future.” Patel took pot-shots at the state Congress leadership, saying that Gujarat Congress leaders were least bothered to address real issues, but were more focused on ensuring that the leaders who came from Delhi to Gujarat got “chicken sandwich” on time. “Lack of seriousness
about all issues is a major problem with the Congress party’s senior leadership. Whenever our country faced challenges and when the Congress needed leadership, Congress leaders were enjoying abroad! Senior leaders behave in a way like they hate Gujarat and Gujaratis. How in the world can Congress then expect that the people of Gujarat will see them as an alternative to lead our state?” said Patel in his resignation letter.
The 28-year-old Patidar leader has of late been critical of the party leadership both at the centre and at the state level. He has accused the party leadership of stifling his efforts to revive the party in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections and not allowing a free hand. However, sources say, Patel in reality wanted the Congress Party to project him as the chief ministerial candidate at the hustings.
Reacting to his resignation, Congress leader Raghu Sharma, in charge of Gujarat, labelled the step as, “politics of betrayal”. He said, “In the last Assembly election of five states you (Hardik Patel) were acting as the star campaigner and abusing BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Now what happened overnight?” Claiming that the resignation letter was “not drafted by him”, Sharma said that Patel was trying to get the cases withdrawn he has been embroiled in by the BJP-led state government and “was in constant touch with BJP”.
Patel has praised the BJP for its decisive leadership. Grapevine has it that he may join the BJP. Patel shot to prominence and became popular specially among the youth after he led a movement some years ago seeking reservation for his community in jobs and education. He, along with Jignesh Mewani and Alpesh Thakur, emerged as leaders who could challenge the BJP-RSS in the state.
(WITH AGENCY INPUTS)