Former Gujarat Congress MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Dhaval Singh Zala join BJP in the presence of Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani. Both Thakore and Zala had quit as MLAs on July 5, just ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.Thakore who had been vocal about his differences with the Congress quit the party before the Lok Sabha elections in April-May. A prominent OBC leader and a former MLA from Radhanpur in Gujarat’s Patan district, Alpesh Thakore had said that he was “ignored and insulted” in the Congress. Both the leaders had earlier met Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel that led to speculations that they might join BJP. The BJP has 104 MLAs in the 182-member Gujarat assembly.

Source: Hindustan Times July 18, 2019 11:30 UTC