NEW DELHI: Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel resigned from the grand old party on Wednesday. There are speculations that Patel may join the BJP in the coming days like Punjab leader Sunil Jakhar who quit the Congress and joined the saffron party. Whether or not Patel joins the BJP, his exit from the Congress is likely to help the ruling party in Gujarat.
Patels or Patidars constitute about 14 per cent of the population in Gujarat. Majority of the Patels are believed to be supporters of BJP since 1995 after they felt ignored by the then Congress chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki who devised the social engineering formula of Kham - Kshatriyas, Harijans (now called Dalits), Adivasis (tribal population) and Muslims in 1985.
