Gujarat Congress MLAs believe Hardik Patel won’t join AAP

New Delhi: As the Congress in Gujarat is facing serious challenges to hold their workers back in the party fold, speculation about Hardik Patel joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also ripe after the Congress leader hit out at the Congress’ state leadership and accused it of not inviting him to meetings and in decision making, However, the party MLAs deny that he will join another party.
An informed source said that there are still 50-50 chances of him joining Aam Aadmi Party; the speculation was based on Patel meeting AAP leaders over the last few days. “If Congress is able to convince him to remain in the party, then there are chances that he might stay. If that doesn’t happen, there is an apprehension that he might join the AAP next week,” a source said.
Raghu Sharma, GPCC in-charge, told The Sunday Guardian, “Presently, it is not right to comment about whether Hardik Patel will join any other party or not.” He further added, “Patel talking about party leaders not coordinating well with him is wrong, we all are working in coordination in the party.”
However, on the condition of anonymity, an MLA said, “Nothing like that is going to happen, Hardik Patel spoke his heart out, he may be annoyed as the Congress is taking no decision on bringing Naresh Patel into Congress, that is what the talks have been upon with him. There is no reason he will join Aam Aadmi Party, the speculation is baseless. He is in favour of bringing Naresh Patel into Congress.”
Congress Gujrat unit president Jagdish Thakur refused to talk about the matter. Earlier, Patel had questioned the Congress’ delay on important matters, such as Patidar leader Naresh Patel whose induction in the party is on the cards. Another resentment he has shown is the party’s inability to take a call on Khodaldham trust president, who is being lured by all parties in the state, suggesting dilly-dallying of the party as an insult to the entire community.
On Thursday, Hardik Patel in his tweet had indicated a softened tone towards the party, “Truth should be spoken because I want the good of the party. The people of the state keep hope from us and if we cannot live up to that expectation, then what is the meaning of this leadership! Till date, I have done the work of giving the best to the party and will continue to do so. They are hungry for work, not for the post,” Patel tweeted in Hindi. A senior political analyst working with one of the political parties in Gujarat said, “Speculation keeps emerging about Hardik Patel that he may join Aam Aadmi Party, but there could not be anything like that, as he has a good hold in his party and may not get the same clout in Aam Aadmi Party, but if that happens, then the party may have more serious internal issues.”