Hardik Patel has quit the Congress in what is being seen as a huge blow to the party just months before the Gujarat election and days after the central leadership held a brainstorming session at Udaipur in Rajasthan to rejuvenate the party, reports ndtv.com.

"I am gathering the courage to resign from the Congress party and post. I am sure my decision will be welcomed by my colleagues and the people of Gujarat. I believe that with this step, I will be able to work really positively for Gujarat in future," Hardik Patel wrote in a Twitter post sharing his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier this month, Patel had removed his designation and party poll symbol of 'hand' from his Twitter profile amid mounting speculation that he may leave the opposition party ahead of the Assembly polls due later this year.

Days earlier Patel had expressed displeasure over the functioning of the state party leadership. The firebrand leader, who spearheaded the Patidar community agitation in Gujarat for reservation in jobs and education, had described himself as a "Proud Indian patriot" in his new profile on Twitter.

The Patidar leader had joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and was later made the working president of the party's state unit.

But Patel has been miffed with the state leadership of the Congress and has been publicly voicing his displeasure over its functioning in Gujarat, where assembly polls are due by the year-end.

"Hardik (Patel) tweeted yesterday. As soon as I learnt about his tweet, I called him immediately and said, 'we came to know about your grievances from the media. Let us sit down and talk about whatever complaints you have'," Gujarat Congress party president Thakor had told reporters then.

Thakore said he had reached out to Patel over the phone every time he came across his statement against the party, asking him to meet and discuss the matter.

"Dialogue is the best way to resolve differences, this is what we and the high command believe in," Thakor further said.

Patel had also gone public with his praise for the working style of the BJP and criticised the state Congress leadership.

One of his tweets read: "I am in Congress currently. I hope the central leaders find a way so that I continue to remain in the Congress. There are others who want Hardik to leave the Congress. They want to break my morale."

A few days earlier, he had told the media, "We will have to acknowledge that recent political decisions taken by the BJP show that it has a better political decision-making capacity. I believe that without praising it, we can at least acknowledge the truth. If the Congress wants to become strong, it will have to improve its decision-making capacity."

The Gujarat Congress working president, however, clarified he had no complaints against party MP Rahul Gandhi and his grievances were only with the state leadership and that he was not quitting the party.

In a tweet, Patel had claimed, "I am not joining any other party. I am not angry with Rahul Gandhi. State leadership and in-charge are ignoring thousands of party loyalists like me, which is harming the future of Congress and Gujarat."