AFTER QUITTING CONGRESS, HARDIK PATEL LIKELY TO JOIN BJP THIS WEEK

(The Quiver): After quitting the Congress, Hardik Patel is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this week.

Amid speculation of him switching sides, the 28-year-old leader – on keeping his option – had said last week: “Why shouldn’t it be…When the elections come, you will see me in an important role.”

Gujarat is set to vote later this year. In the February-March round of state elections, the BJP had claimed a big win in four of the five states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party won.

The party, ruling at the centre too, is now gearing up for the next set of assembly elections ahead of the 2024 national polls.Patel had served as Gujarat Congress working president.

He emerged as a newsmaker in 2015 when he was just 21, and became the face of the Patel Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) to seek inclusion of Gujarat’s Patel community as other backward classes (OBC) and get quota benefits in education and jobs.