In yet another sign of distancing himself from the Congress, Hardik Patel, the working president of the Gujarat Congress, has dropped the party name from his Twitter profile bio.
The move has triggered buzz about his putative exit just months before elections in the State. Lately, the young leader has publicly criticised the Congress leadership while appreciating the BJP and its decisive leadership.
On Monday, Mr. Patel suddenly reworked his bio from which “Working President of the Gujarat Congress” is now missing from his Twitter profile, which says: “Proud Indian Patriot. Social and Political Activist. Committed to a better India.” The Congress’s “hand” symbol has also been removed.
In recent years, many leaders who have exited the Congress have usually dropped the first hint by changing their Twitter bio.
The 28-year-old Patidar leader who joined the Congress in 2019 has been complaining of being ignored by the Congress and its top leaders in Gujarat. He has been flip-flopping over the Congress and whether he would quit it or not.
Mr. Patel has so far denied, however, that he is on his way out of the party but he has been dropping hints of distance he has maintaining from the party.
‘Strong leadership’
Last month, in a newspaper interview, he stunned the party bosses when he went a step further and praised the BJP, saying, “a few things are good about the BJP and we must acknowledge that.”
“The recent decisions the BJP has taken politically, we have to accept that their leadership is strong enough to take such steps,” Mr. Patel had said.
The Patidar leader saw meteoric rise in 2015 when he spearheaded the quota agitation in Gujarat. The agitation had culminated into violent protests in which more than a dozen persons were killed in police firing.
