Journalism of Courage
Former Hardik Patel aide and firebrand woman Patidar leader Reshma Patel, who had joined the BJP in the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly elections two years ago, on Thursday announced to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Porbandar constituency and Manavadar Assembly bypoll, simultaneously.
Reshma, however, said that it was not clear if she would contest on a party ticket or as an Independent candidate.
Disillusioned by the BJP, Reshma has been embarrassing the party for quite some time. On Thursday, she posted a message on social media saying that she will fight against “tanashahi (dictatorial)” mentality of the BJP. Click here for more election news
“I have set up my base in Upleta for my electoral activities. I will fight the election from Porbandar (Lok Sabha constituency). I am in touch with parties like Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to field me on its ticket. If things work out, I will contest from a party ticket. However, if things do not work out, I am not going to give up and will contest the election as an Independent candidate. And I will be fighting against the BJP,” Reshma told The Indian Express.
“With this, I am also going to contest the bypoll for the Manavadar assembly constituency, simultaneously, since the Assembly constituency of Manavadar is a part of Porbandar Lok Sabha seat. Therefore, I will not have to make separate efforts,” she added.
Reshma has been demanding fulfilment of certain demands related to the Patidar quota agitation; one of the most salient of them is regarding giving government jobs to families of 14 Patidars who died in the police action during the quota agitation of 2015. So far, many of her demands have not been fulfilled by the BJP government in the state.
“I have also been pressing for various other demands for the welfare of non-reserved communities like relaxing their age limit to appear in competitive exams, waiving of exam fees for non-reserved communities among others,” she had earlier said.
In January, she spoke for the first time openly against the BJP, saying that the ruling party is not doing politics of vikas (development) but of vinash (destruction). She had also said then that she would campaign against her party if the state government did not act on her demands related to the Patidar reservation agitation. “Instead of acting on my demands, the BJP government is working to ensure that I do not hold agitation. However, I must say that I will continue to protest against the government’s hollow promises and policies. And I will expose the BJP’s falsehood and hollow promises and vote-bank politics during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and will campaign against them (BJP),” she had said.
Meanwhile, BJP has maintained a stoic silence over her. State BJP chief Jitu Vaghani ignored questions related to Reshma while addressing mediapersons in Ahmedabad.
