Gujarat: Amid constant defections, Congress now intends to ‘expose’ turncoats
The BJP Gujarat spokesperson announced that Hardik Patel will be joining the BJP in presence of state president CR Paatil on June 2.
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On Hardik Patel, Congress spokesperson said that he sympathizes with an ordinary BJP worker who has to welcome Patel even after abusing him. (File)As Patidar leader Hardik Patel is all set to join BJP, Congress which has been battling defections plans to “expose” turncoat leaders through a “Nav Sankalp” (New Pledge) Sammelan to be held in Sabarkantha and Aravalli on Wednesday and Thursday, party leaders said.
According to Congress leaders, the party intends to hold a rally in Khedbrahma of Sabarkantha and Bhiloda of Aravalli, both tribal belts, on Wednesday and Thursday in order to have a conversation with the local population over recent turncoat leaders.
The Congress intends to “expose” MLA Ashwin Kotwal from Khedbrahma constituency and Bhiloda MLA late Dr Anil Joshiyara’s son Keval Joshiyara, who had recently quit the party and joined the BJP.
On Tuesday, days after Hardik Patel had quit the Congress party as its working president, the BJP Gujarat spokesperson announced that Patel will be joining the BJP in presence of state president CR Paatil on June 2.
According to Congress leaders, Patel’s name is also going to be discussed in the two-day event.
Senior leaders such as Raghu Sharma, AICC incharge of Gujarat, Jagdish Thakor, Gujarat Congress president, Sukhram Rathva, Leader of Opposition and others are expected to be present during the
two-day rally.
“Khedbrahma and Bhiloda are Congress-dominated constituencies. The party gave respect and opportunity to these leaders, they rose through ranks and received people’s mandate, and yet they chose to backstab the party and people to join the BJP. We are going to have a discussion with the local people regarding the turncoats who have rejected the love and mandate of the people. We want to ask these turncoats why have they joined a party that is anti-Dalit, anti-minority, anti tribal and anti-constitution? What is their ideology? We are also going to discuss future course of action regarding these turncoats and coming elections,” said Manish Doshi, spokesperson, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee.
From July 2017 to May 2022, 29 Congress MLAs had quit and defected to the BJP. The current tally of Congress MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly is 64, while it had 77 MLAs in 2017.
On Hardik Patel, Doshi said that he sympathizes with an ordinary BJP worker who has to welcome Patel even after abusing him.
“I sympathize with the ordinary BJP workers who will have to arrange for tent, tables and red carpet for the induction ceremony of Hardik Patel whom they used to badmouth and troll on social media till now. Neglecting an ordinary, hard-working party karyakarta, the BJP has chosen to welcome an opportunist outsider. Patel going to BJP is not a loss for us but for them. People slog for 26 years in a party and yet they are not given any position. We had made Hardik working president at the age of 26 yet he chose to leave,” said Doshi.
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