Ahmadabad: Dissident leader and former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel on Saturday quit the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The announcement came hours after he met his loyalists Kashiram Rana and Suresh Mehta at his residence to chalk out future strategy.

Patel is also expected to soon announce the formation of a new political party, ahead of Assembly polls later this year.

"Hindutva used in liberal and broad sense will be the ideology of the new party,” Patel had said earlier.

"This version of Hindutva will also mean working for the welfare of the Muslim community", he maintained.

The Modi-baiter, who is on a mission to mobilise support for the ouster of the BJP stalwart, said, "I decided to form the new party to dislodge the corrupt Modi government from power."

After virtually remaining in political wilderness since 2001, the former CM has decided to contest the Assembly poll from Saurashtra, a region where he enjoys good support among the influential Patel community who constitute 18 per cent of Gujarat's population.

In the last few months, Patel had openly criticised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at various public meetings. He had alleged that the people of Gujarat were living in fear under Modi's rule.

Patel was unceremoniously removed from the chief minister's post in 2001 and was replaced by Modi.