Hardik Patel, who recently quit the Congress, will join the BJP on Thursday, sources have said.
The 28-year-old Gujarat Patidar leader, who started his political career in 2019 with the Congress, quit the party on May 18 after writing a lacerating resignation note to Sonia Gandhi. In the letter, he had targeted Rahul Gandhi, saying "top leaders" were distracted by their mobile phones and Gujarat Congress leaders were more interested in arranging chicken sandwiches for them.
Hardik Patel has officially been denying that he is joining the BJP, but his praise for the party and its leadership told a different story.
Soon after quitting the Congress, he shut down speculation saying he "is not in the BJP yet" and has not taken any decision on joining either the BJP or the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
He also said he had "wasted" three years in the Congress.
"I am not in the BJP yet and have not taken any decision to go," Hardik Patel told reporters, but at the same time, gave a shout-out to the BJP on a range of subjects including the Ayodhya verdict and the scrapping of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"I have not taken any decision as of now on joining any political party, be it the BJP or AAP. Whatever decision I will take, it will be in the interest of the people," he had said.
NDTV had quoted BJP sources as saying that Hardik Patel would join the party soon.
The sources said he had been in talks with the BJP for two months.
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