Hardik Patel's group alleged BJP leaders were behind the video clips tarnish Hardik Patel's image
, Hardik Patel's Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, or PAAS, on Thursday accused the BJP of commissioning the "morphed video clips" and claimed 52 more similar clips were on their way. "Our sources have told us... 22 clips are of Hardik while the remaining clips are of other PAAS leaders," the Patidar group's convener Dinesh Bambhania said at a news conference on Thursday.
Mr Bambhania held Gujarat chief minister and state BJP unit chief Jitu Vaghani responsible for the "morphed" sex clips which, he alleged, was part of a 40 crores deal struck by the party with an unnamed builder from Pune.
But the BJP promptly hit back, insisting that the party was "nowhere in the picture".
"As PAAS has claimed that 52 more CDs are still there, it shows that they are aware that their own workers might have prepared them. It is their internal matter," Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told reporters.
He had just welcomed one of them into the BJP, Chirag Patel. A founder member of the PAAS set up to seek reservation for Patels, or Patidars, the Chirag Patel had fallen out with Hardik Patel last year after accusing the 24-year-old face of the Patidar agitation of hijacking the movement for personal gains.
On Thursday, Chirag Patel also accused
his former mentor of cozying up to the Congress that is trying to piggyback Hardik Patel's to make inroads into the community that makes up for 14 per cent of the state's population and is known to have support the BJP in the past.
Hardik Patel's group isn't contesting the assembly elections but has vowed to ensure that the BJP, which has held Gujarat for 22 years, doesn't come back to power.
Dinesh Bambhania called the "morphed" CDs "an attempt to tarnish Hardik's image ahead of the polls to save the BJP".
Hardik Patel had predicted earlier this month that a video of him having sex would be circulated to damage his reputation as Gujarat approaches its voting dates of December 8 and 14. News agency Press Trust of India said at least three videos
that allegedly feature a man resembling him were already out.
He has only reacted to the first that showed a lookalike with an unidentified woman in a hotel room and claimed that he wasn't the man in the four-minute long video clip.
He later also appeared to take a swipe at the BJP, saying "the people of Gujarat want to see video proof of 22 years of development, not a 22-year-old boy".