Gujarat Assembly elections: Turncoat Hardik Patel to contest from Viramgam constituency
The 28-year-old Patel, who was the face of the 2015 Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat, had earlier been a staunch critic of the BJP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party released its first list of 160 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election on Thursday, fielding former Congress leader Hardik Patel - who quit the party and joined the BJP in June, from the Viramgam constituency.
The 28-year-old Patel, who was the face of the 2015 Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat, had earlier been a staunch critic of the BJP. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Patel joined the Congress and was later appointed as the working president of the party's state unit. However, he resigned in May this year, saying that he was being sidelined in the party, and was not given any responsibility.
In other notable leaders, chief minister Bhupendra Patel will contest the elections from the Ghatlodia constituency. Gujarat home minister Harsh Sanghavi will contest elections from Majura constituency. Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, will contest from the Jamnagar North constituency.
BJP held the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting regarding the Gujarat Assembly election at the party's headquarters on Wednesday. The meet was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa and others bigwigs.
Soon after the meeting, former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and three other leaders of the ruling BJP announced that they would not contest the upcoming assembly elections of the state to make way for the new faces.
With inputs from news agencies
