Ahmedabad: Gujarat MLA Alpesh Thakor, who had quit the Congress ahead of Lok Sabha election, is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, sources said on Monday.
Thakor had resigned from the grand old party in April after his outfit, the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, gave him a 24-hour ultimatum. His party was said to be unhappy with the local party leadership as their leader was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, but the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor over him.
The Congress had also ignored Thakor Sena's demand for ticket to a member of the outfit from Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat.
"The Thakor Sena, during the core committee meeting, passed a resolution to severe ties with the Congress. We have not consulted Alpesh Thakor before taking this decision," Jagat Thakor, a member of the outfit, had told reporters in April.
"After the meet, we told him to make his stand clear within 24 hours. If he wants to remain with the Congress, then he has to leave the Thakor Sena. And if he wants to be with us, then he has to resign from the party and as an MLA," he added.
The Congress was "ignoring" the Thakor Sena while taking important decisions, including selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, he said.
Though Alpesh Thakor heads the outfit, he was not present in the meeting. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, he joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district.
He had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. The OBC leader claimed his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored".
He also said that some "weak leaders" were at the helm of party affairs in Gujarat, an apparent reference to state party president Amit Chavda.