Ex-BJP leader Reshma Patel leaves NCP; joins AAP

Ahmedabad: Reshma Patel, who was in the Nationalist Congress Party in Gujarat, joined the Aam Aadmi Party here after she was apparently denied a ticket in the state Assembly elections. She was a former quota agitation leader, PTI reported.

AAP's Rajya Sabha member and Gujarat co-in-charge Raghav Chadha inducted Ms Patel into the party at its state office here and noted that she was a prominent face of the committee that organised the agitation for Patidar quota in Gujarat in 2015.

Chadha told the media, "I am sure that a personality like hers will greatly benefit the AAP and make its Gujarat unit very strong. It is for the AAP's political affairs committee to decide which candidate will contest from where. Patel's induction into the AAP will not just impact one seat, in one district, but in the whole of Gujarat."

Meanwhile, Patel said that she had relentlessly raised her voice for the poor and oppressed and now wishes to spend her energy and time at "a party with which the future of the people of Gujarat lies."

"(AAP's national convener) Arvind Kejriwal has himself come out of a movement. It means he can understand the agitators' feelings, which is why I have joined the AAP today. I am sure that under the leadership of Kejriwal and with the dedication of the AAP workers, I will be able to increase my strength and work for the people," she said.

As per Sharad Pawar's NCP and Congress' pre-poll alliance, the former will contest three seats in the upcoming state polls, namely Umreth (Anand district, Naroda (in Ahmedabad), and Devgarh Baria (in Dahod district).

Patel was the head of Gujarat NCP's women's wing. She demanded an NCP ticket from the Gondal seat in Rajkot district, where she was active, and she announced that she would file her nomination a day before the alliance was announced.

In 2015, she became a leading member of the Hardik Patel-led quota agitation body --Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) – which led the quota agitation movement for Patidars.

She joined the ruling party in the state, BJP, in 2017, quit in 2019 and joined NCP later. While joining the BJP, she had accused Hardik Patel of being a "Congress agent" who was trying to use the agitation to overthrow the BJP government. Hardik Patel, however, joined the BJP later. This time has been given the ticket by the party from the Viramgam seat in the Ahmedabad district.