In a major setback to Congress, just hours before India goes to vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor has resigned from Congress. In his resignation letter, Thakor said that all he wanted in Congress was ‘respect’ but all he got was ‘insult’.

“I have spent my life in social service and I had joined the party to help the poor and needy. People of Kshatriya Thakor Sena have been at the forefront of the social cause and are deeply hurt by the insult meted out to the poor,” Thakor said in his resignation letter to the party.

Adding that he had no political aspirations or hunger for power, Thakor said, “If I had political aspirations, I would not have joined Congress in its bad times and when it was struggling.” He added that Congress has backstabbed him.

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Thakor along with his close aide and another Congress MLA Dhavalsinh Zala resigned from the party but will continue to be MLAs. Zala has reportedly said that Congress MLA from Becharaji, Bharat Thakor may also resign and join them. Zala said that the community is bigger for them than the party. Zala alleged that Congress has been ignoring a query of Thakor Sena core committee and despite having written letters, Congress had done nothing about it.

We had reported yesterday that Thakor-led outfit, Kshatriya Thakor Sena’s core committee has decided to withdraw support to Congress following which, Alpesh had been asked to resign from all posts of the party. Earlier, two office-bearers of Kshatriya Thakor Sena had filed their nominations for the Banaskantha and Sabarkantha constituencies. Congress had tried to persuade Alpesh to get the office-bearers of the outfit he heads to withdraw their nomination.

Earlier we had reported about a rift within Congress when Thakor was not invited for an event in Bihar after it was reported that Thakor had allegedly instigated violent attacks on migrant workers from Bihar in Gujarat.