Alpesh Thakor.

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat's OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has quit Congress, his close aide Dhavalsinh Zala confirmed to TOI on Wednesday morning.

Zala said, "Thakor Sena core committee has held a meeting and asked three Congress MLAs - Alpesh, me and Bharatji Thakor to leave Congress to protest against the ignorance of Thakor community by the party."

A general board meeting of the of the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena (GKTS) was convened in Lunawada on Tuesday and it decided to distance itself from the Congress. The organisation that is headed at the state level by Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor passed a resolution in this regard for the Mahisagar district. Mahisagar district GKTS president Rajendrasinh Thakor said that the organisation had helped the Congress in the 2017 assembly polls. “The party only used us as a vote bank and we were not taken into confidence regarding any issue after the polls. We were getting several complaints from our members,” said Rajendrasinh.

The development comes a day ahead of the first phase of the general elections.

Only a month ago, refuting the speculations that he would be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the OBC leader had said he would continue to fight for the rights of the Thakor community and would stay with Congress. He also indicated that he would not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “I will stay with Congress and will continue to support this party. I want respect and rights for my people,” Thakor had said in March.



In Video: Lok Sabha elections 2019: Gujarat OBC leader Alpesh Thakor quits Congress