Patidar leaders—Congress leader Hardik Patel and NCP leader Reshma Patel—were attacked in two different incidents and places during campaigning for Lok Sabha 2019 elections in Gujarat on Friday.
Patel was addressing a rally in Surendranagar when a person climbed on to the stage and slapped him. Patel was the face of the Patidar agitation in Gujarat, before he joined the Congress recently.
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Immediately after the attack, Patel blamed the BJP. He refused security cover saying that in the past too he had rejected the security cover, since the BJP government was trying to spy on him under the pretext of security. The Patidar leader also alleged that the BJP was trying to kill him as it was scared of him.
The attacker was later identified as Taran Gajjar. He told a section of media that he wanted to hit Patel for quite some time now. He said that twice he faced problems because of Patel and the Patidar agitation—once when his wife was pregnant and was undergoing treatment in the hospital and, when he saw all the medical stores shut when he went to get medicines for his child.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi alleged that the BJP was resorting to such tactics as it has realised that it was losing the election.
The BJP, on the other hand, has distanced itself from the incident. Gujarat BJP spokesman Bharat Pandya said that the party had nothing to do with the incident.
In another incident, NCP candidate Reshma Patel for Manavadar by-election was allegedly attacked by BJP workers. Reshma, a former close associate of Hardik Patel, had joined the BJP ahead of 2017 assembly elections. However, she turned into a vocal critic of the BJP and joined the NCP last month.
The incident occurred while she was campaigning in Vanthali. The BJP has fielded Jawhar Chavda, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP. He was made a cabinet minister a day after he joined.
The attacker, reportedly, hit Reshma on her chest. She later alleged that the police refused to lodge a complaint on the instructions of Chavda.
She threatened to launch an agitation at Vanthali police station if FIR is not registered.
