Gujarat MLA from Radhanpur in Patan district, Alpesh Thakor triggered speculations of joining the BJP as he met the Gujarat deputy CM Nitin Patel. Thakor had quit Congress before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Thakor claimed that Congress was bound to lose as their leaders have “Chemical Locha”, Thakor claimed.
Alpesh Thakor,Gujarat MLA: My people are poor & backward. They need support of govt. I was disturbed that I couldn’t give that to my people what I had intended to. My org voiced their opinion that we need not be there where we don’t have respect & there’s no talk of their rights. pic.twitter.com/DqZkS6EmiN
— ANI (@ANI) May 28, 2019
While speaking to the media, Thakor expressed his helplessness in serving his people while being in the Congress party. He alleged that there was no talk about the rights of the poor and backward in his party.
Alpesh Thakor: It was our decision & the voice of my conscience that we don’t want to be here. We want to work for our people & the poor with help of the govt…Wait and watch, more than 15 MLAs are leaving Congress, everyone is distressed. More than half of the MLAs are upset. https://t.co/3HtNhItl3e
— ANI (@ANI) May 28, 2019
Alpesh Thakor revealed that more than 15 Congress MLAs are contemplating of leaving the party, asserting that they are distressed with the party. Thakor also claimed that more than half of the Congress MLAs in the state were upset. He said that he wants to work for the poor and the marginalised with the help of the current government in the state.
The OBC leader along with his associate and Bayad MLA Dhavalsinh Zala had yesterday met the deputy CM. However, unsure of the course of action taken up by Thakor, state BJP spokesperson claimed that the meeting might be for some other issue as they both are MLAs. Media reports of Thakore’s probabilities of joining the BJP have been doing rounds for a while now.
Though, speculations abound that Thakor and Zala might switch over to the saffron camp, though Aplesh has denied it. Thakor had resigned from the Congress party ahead of the Lok Sabha election in April 2019 over rejection by the Congress party for his candidature for the Lok Sabha seat from Patan. The Congress had also rejected Thakor’s demand for a ticket to a member of his outfit, the Thakor Sena, from the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won all 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat. The BJP got a stunning 303 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Since then, speculations of Congress disintegrating in many states are doing the rounds.