Hardik Patel heaps praise on PM Modi ahead of joining BJP: 'Pride of the world'

Once a staunch critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Congress leader Hardik Patel said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the "pride of the entire world". Ahead of joining the BJP, Patel, who was the face of the 2015 Patidar quota agitation, said that he will work as a small soldier in this "new chapter".

He said that an event will be held every 10 days to persuade disgruntled Confto join BJP.

"Today I'm starting a new chapter. I will work as a small soldier. We will do an event every 10 days in which the people including MLAs who are unhappy with Congress will be asked to join (BJP)...PM Modi is the pride of the entire world," ANI quoted Patel as saying.

Posters welcoming Patel were put outside the BJP office in Gandhinagar.

Congress brought Hardik Patel into the party fold ahead of the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections but failed to convert his entry into electoral success. Patel was elevated to working president of the party's state unit amid continued infighting.

Patel's defection is seen as an attempt to remain relevant in Gujarat, where BJP has been in power continuously for 28 years.

Patel's resignation letter was scathing in criticism of the Congress leadership, calling them "anti-Gujaratis".

"Whenever I met with the senior leadership, I always felt that leaders were not really interested in hearing about problems concerning the people of Gujarat but were more engrossed on what messages they had received on their mobile and other such trivial things," Patel wrote.

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said Patel, who has at least a dozen cases against him, was in touch with the BJP for the last six months for the withdrawal of his cases. "This is politics of opportunism and nothing else. Gujarat understands this."