Having kept the Congress on tenterhooks for almost one and a half years, OBC leader and Radhanpur MLA Alpesh Thakor on Wednesday finally quit the party. He said that he wouldn't quit as MLA.
The resignation came as a major setback for the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
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Thakor was the AICC secretary and co-in-charge of the party in Bihar. During the party's working committee meeting in Ahmedabad last month, at a programme in Sabarmati Ashram, he was seated next to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
After dashing off a letter to Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda, Thakor told the media that he resigned as he and other members of his Kshatriya Thakor Sena (KTS) felt sidelined and did not get due respect.
Thakor alleged that the Congress in-charge for Gujarat, Rajeev Satav, failed to bring about a solution to the problems he had raised. He also claimed that the party tickets for the Lok Sabha elections were “sold”.
There had been speculations in the past that he might join the BJP. The rumors gathered steam after his resignation. However, Thakor ruled out the possibility of him joining the BJP saying had he wanted to join the saffron party, he would have done that in 2017.
Thakor claimed that the BJP was even ready to make him a minister. According to him, his outfit had joined the Congress at time when the party was facing struggling times.
The OBC leader claimed that his Kshatriya Thakor Sena had a lion's share contribution in 43 out the 77 seats the Congress had won in the last state elections.
Thakor said that he would not contest for or against any party. “I will only campaign for the KTS candidate in Banaskantha LS seat and Unjha assembly bye-poll,” he said.
Congress denies charges
Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda denied the allegations leveled by Thakor. He claimed that Satav has had personal discussions with Thakor.
Chavda also said that personal ambitions have to be kept aside when one joins the party. He claimed that he had not yet received a hard copy of the resignation.