Alpesh Thakor — the Congress MLA from Radhanpur and leader of Thakor Sena — may not quit the party immediately, at least that's what came out of the meeting between him and the party president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Friday. Several sources inside the party also revealed that Thakor has convinced Gandhi a seat for his wife to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The political leaders swept into poll mathematics after a buzz of Thakor quitting the Congress and joining the BJP broke out on Thursday. Thakor, however, denied such updates and assured of further clarification on Saturday.Thakor community has great influence over politics in North Gujarat, especially Patan.
The sources also informed that Thakor has sought an election ticket for his wife, Kiran, in Patan and received a verbal assurance from Gandhi.
However, denying any such development, Thakor said, "All the buzz like I demanded a ticket for my wife and got the assurance from Rahul Gandhi is a rumour. There was no such discussion between me and Rahul Gandhi. I expressed my concern to him that I am ignored by the state leadership in the party and nothing more beyond that."
"The Congress president has assured that he would take care of my feelings and discuss the issue with the party leaders during Congress Working Committee's meeting in Ahmedabad next week," Thakor added.
It was believed that Alpesh may quit Congress and join BJP and in exchange, he may get a Lok Sabha ticket from Patan or else a position in Gujarat government's cabinet. The BJP leaders including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, however, ruled out such possibilities.