Reshma Patel alleges press conference obstructed by Congress, Patidar

The newly inducted member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Reshma Patel alleged that members of Congress and Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) obstructed her press conference, which was supposed to begin at a venue in Ahmedabed on 23 October.

"I was holding a talk in a peaceful manner, when there come five-six Congress agents started shouting slogans of 'Jai Sardar', and told whole of Gujarat that they are protesting. But we will not be afraid of them," she told reporters here.

Reshma alleged that the Congress Party buys agitators and gets them to stage protests.

"They organise riots and scare the public of Gujarat. Whatever BJP has done for the state, they don't have the right to call it 'Lollipop'," she added.

The press conference, Reshma said, was an attempt to "aware public about Hardik Patel."

"He is not a God that whatever he says has to be taken for the truth. Whomever he labels as traitor or innocent need not necessarily be so," Patel said.

The former Patidar leader, who was a close aide of agitation spearhead Hardik Patel, accused the latter of working as an agent of the Congress, after she joined BJP.

On Saturday, Reshma Patel, along with fellow Patidar leader Varun Patel, joined BJP following their meeting with party Chief Amit Shah.

Both the leaders said they had led the movement to secure Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation for the community and not to make Congress win.

Further, Reshma Patel said that BJP had agreed to three of their demands.

Patel also dismissed allegations of Patidar leader Narendra Patel receiving bribe from BJP, as a Congress conspiracy.

"If they give press conference sitting beside a Congress Party member, no one will believe him. They only do this to fool the public, and to defame BJP," Patel said

Hours after Narendra Patel was welcomed into BJP, he appeared in a press conference with wads of cash and said he was offered Rs one crore and given Rs 10 lakh as token money by BJP, to switch over to the ruling party in poll-bound Gujarat. 

-ANI