Hardik Patel to join BJP on June 2

New Delhi, May 31: Patidar leader Hardik Patel is set to join BJP on June 2. He had recently quit Congress.

Earlier, there were speculations that he may join the ruling BJP. He had praised the BJP's decision-making capacity and style of functioning, while severely criticising the Congress leadership.

"It is confirmed that Hardik Patel will join the BJP on June 2 in the presence of state president C R Paatil," BJP's state spokesperson Yagnesh Dave told PTI.

Patel had joined the Congress in 2019.

Before quitting the Congress earlier this month, Patel wrote a scathing letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, claiming the Congress "only played the role of a roadblock" over certain key issues in the country and was "merely reduced to opposing everything".

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".

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