OBC leader and Congress MLA from Gujarat Alpesh Thakor on Saturday refuted all speculations of joining the BJP and said he will continue to fight for the rights of his Thakor community by staying with the Congress Party. Thakur also said he will support the Congress even though he was upset with the party's top brass in the state.
Thakor's decision comes amidst rumours about his plans to join the BJP and the possibility that he might be given a Cabinet berth in the Vijay Rupani government.
Addressing a press conference here, Alpesh said: "I am going to continue to fight for my people. I will stay in Congress and continue to support the Congress."
"Everyone wants to hold the position of a minister. Even I thought of becoming a Minister and had talks regarding that. People working with me belong to deprived sections of society. I'm representing a backward part of society where we need to bring development from the basic level. So, I don't need power from where I cannot work for my own people," he added.
Rubbishing rumours of convincing Congress President Rahul Gandhi to get a ticket for his wife to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Thakor said: "I don't need a ticket for my wife. She is taking care of my family as I have no time to do so. I'm assuring you that no member of my family will ever join politics. I had no such discussion with Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Friday. I just expressed my concern that I am being ignored by the Congress state leadership and nothing more beyond that."
"Rahul has assured me that he would look into the matter and discuss the issue in the Congress Working Committee's meeting in Ahmedabad, which will held next week, " Alpesh said.
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Earlier, Thakor's close friend and Congress MLA Dhavalsinh Zala told ANI that the BJP has contacted Alpesh Thakor but he has not contacted any BJP leader.
Alpesh, who came to limelight due to his quota agitation some years back, joined the Congress in 2017 ahead of the last Gujarat polls and was elected from Radhanpur.