Announcing his decision in a press conference today in Gandhinagar, Mr Patel said he is unhappy with the way the party functions now. He said, "I am leaving with a lot of pain."
Along with other senior BJP leaders like Suresh Mehta, Mr Patel has been complaining to the party's central leaders in Delhi of a growing chasm within the party over Mr Modi. He said, "the BJP high command has not paid heed to our concerns." Alleging the central leadership of having bias towards Mr Modi, he said, "Gadkari-ji said small leaders like Sanjay Joshi can be sacrificed for a big leader like Narendra Modi."
Launching fresh attack on Mr Modi, he said, "I am not averse to taking names. But Gujarat's people should be liberated from this government."
Earlier, Mr Patel had decided not to renew his membership of the party. He has been increasingly and publicly critical of chief minister Narendra Modi for being autocratic and intolerant of dissent. In a blog recently, Mr Patel wrote that Gujarat today is worse off than India during the days of the Emergency.
Mr Patel was replaced by Mr Modi as Chief Minister in 2001.
But the BJP's central leadership didn't seem too worried over the resignation of Mr Patel. Party leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy reacted, "He can do what he wants." -NDTV-
