The Patidaar community leaders in poll-bound Gujarat continue to give a headache to the ruling BJP, with a senior Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader levying charges of horse-trading against the BJP leadership in the state and another quitting the party after joining it a fortnight ago.
Narendra Patel, convenor of PAAS from Mehsana district, the hub of Patel quota stir for the last two-and-a-half years late on Sunday night dropped a bombshell of sorts by showing wads of currency notes to media, claiming that BJP had tried to buy him out.
“They tried to make a deal of Rs 1 crore with me. Even if they give me entire Reserve Bank of India (RBI), I will not be bought over, even if I have to die fighting for the cause,” Patel had said showing wads of cash amounting to Rs 10 lakh in cash.
Interestingly, Narendra Patel was paraded before media and was welcomed into BJP with a saffron scarf by none other than BJP state president Jitu Vaghani, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on Sunday. He is also the same person who had a couple of months ago filed a police complaint against Hardik Patel and his associates for arson and loot, the case he eventually withdrew.
“Varun Patel took me to Shree Kamalam, the head office of the BJP, and introduced me to Jitubhai Vaghani and some ministers. He then took me to a room and handed over a bag of Rs 10 lakh cash as a token and promised to pay me Rs 90 lakh on Monday after a party function,” Narendra Patel claimed.
Varun Patel considered a close aide of Hardik and till recently a severe critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined BJP with another senior PAAS leader Reshma Patel couple of days ago. Varun later denied any role, while BJP claimed that this to be a conspiracy by Congress.
Hardik Patel on his part increased his tirade against BJP saying that people of Gujarat are not “cheap” so as to be bought by BJP. “This is insult people of Gujarat and they will avenge it.BJP has budgeted Rs 500 crore to buy those running the agitation. If they had indeed done development, what was the need to involve in the purchase. All the six crore people of Gujarat are fighting against BJP, be it business class, farmers, all communities, labourers are opposing BJP’s autocracy,” Hardik said in series of tweets.
However, even before BJP could get hang of things, another PAAS leader Nikhil Savani, quit BJP within 12 hours of Narendra Patel levying allegations. “BJP is treating Patidaars as a vote bank and what they have promised is nothing more than a lollipop,” Savani told media persons on Monday morning. Nikhil too has been one of the key PAAS committee members and had joined BJP a fortnight ago.
DH
