Less than a week after the Gujarat Congress struck a bonhomie of sorts with Patidar leader and its State working president Hardik Patel, who has been sulking for months of being given short shrift in the party, at a ceremony to observe the death anniversary of his father, the 29-year-old Patel is at it again.
A day ahead of the State Congress planning a huge welcome for firebrand Dalit leader and Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, who has just been released on bail after spending seven days out of his eight under police remand last week in Assam, Patel threw up his expected tantrum.
On Monday, Patel removed his designation as Gujarat Congress’ working president from his Twitter handle once again making known his displeasure with the State leadership for ignoring him. This, was when he was sending out signals that he may even join the BJP or anywhere else (AAP) and that his options were open.
Hours after removing his designation from his Twitter account, Hardik retweeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacking the Central government over “power, job, farmer and inflation crisis.”
Patel was at his crybaby attitude again just four days after he announced at the function of his father Bharat Patel’s first death anniversary that his issues “had been almost resolved.”
He said this in response to the AICC Secretary in charge of Gujarat affairs Raghu Sharma asserting that “Hardik Patel is inseparable from the Congress and is the party’s future. He will be getting key responsibilities during the upcoming Gujarat elections.”
An elated Hardik reacted, “This is what I have been demanding. Work. Give me work and I will run at 110 km/hour.” All this was also in sync with most BJP leaders on his invitee’s list for the ceremony at his home town Viramgam being absent. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Gujarat BJP President CR Paatil were also conspicuous by their absence.
This was also a logical corollary after the chances of the Congress going with another Patidar face, Naresh Patel, receded, with the party’s brief flirting with political consultant Prashant Kishor ended recently.
