Gujarat BJP has been forced to organise two separate functions on Thursday after Patidar leader Hardik Patel threw up a tantrum protesting against Shweta Brahmbhatt joining the party along with him.
During discussions on the formalities of the former Congress Working President, who quit the party on May 17, and is joining the BJP on June 2, Patel insisted that he would join along with his supporters.
As a result, Shweta Brahmbhatt, who was the Congress candidate for the Maninagar constituency in 2017, would join at the auditorium at the BJP headquarters at 11 a.m., while Hardik Patel will don the saffron scarf outside in a specially erected pandal on the lawns of Sri Kamalam at noon.
Patel and his 2,000 supporters will join the BJP at a grand function on Thursday. According to BJP sources, he will join the party in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and State party chief CR Paatil.
Days before it became official that he would embrace the BJP, Patel had insisted that he joined in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah during their visit earlier in the week but this was outrightly rejected by the party leadership.
As for national BJP President JP Nadda, the BJP told Patel to go to Delhi and join in his presence or opt for the party headquarters in Gujarat, where he would be ushered in by CR Paatil and the Chief Minister.
But when he learnt that Shweta Brahmbhatt, a UK educated MBA who was a first-time Congress candidate and lost in 2017, would also join along with him, he kicked up a ruckus. However, the BJP gave in and organised a separate function for him.
