BJP bribing Patidars in Gujarat, allege former close aides of Hardik Patel

Ahead of elections in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party is facing allegations of bribing Patidar leaders to join their fold. Nikhil Sawani, a former aide of Hardik Patel, on Monday resigned from the BJP within a few days after joining the party. He alleged that the party promised a lot of things because of which he had decided to join them but he is leaving it now as none of those promises are being fulfilled. 

"I resigned because they are just offering lollipop, fulfilling nothing," he alleged.

Sawani even said that he is open to meeting Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to discuss his ideas. 

His resignation comes soon after Narendra Patel, another patidar leader who had joined BJP, quit the party and alleged that he had been offered Rs 1 crore to join the saffron brigade. In a press conference on Monday, Patel showed Rs 10 lakh cash that he claimed was given to him by a BJP leader on Sunday, with a promise that he will be given the remaining Rs 90 lakh on Monday.

Sawani congratulated Patel for speaking against the BJP. "Heard about Rs 1 crore offer by BJP to Narendra Patel, I'm upset. I congratulate him. He comes from a small family but still he didn't choose Rs 1 crore," he said.

"I agree with Narendra Patel. Even I have heard a lot about money being offered to conveners & others," Sawani claimed.

Narendra Patel, who had last month lodged a police complaint against Hardik Patel and three supporters in Patan in North Gujarat and later withdrew it, told a press conference that Patidar leader Varun Patel who joined the BJP on Saturday evening took him to meet Gujarat BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani and other leaders on Sunday.

“Varun took me around in Gandhinagar and then took me to Shree Kamalam 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 token and promised to pay me Rs 90 lakh tomorrow after a party function which I was required to attend,” Patel told a crowded a press conference late on Sunday.

“They made a deal of Rs 1 crore on me. One crore? Even if they bestow the entire Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on me, I will not be bought over. Even if I have to die, fighting for the cause,” Patel claimed.