Ahead of Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls, Alpesh Thakore claims Congress MLAs unhappy

GANDHINAGAR: Former Congress legislator Alpesh Thakore on Tuesday said that several MLAs in Gujarat Congress are unhappy and are likely to part ways with the party.

Thakore’s statement assumes significance as the state is all set for the election of two Rajya Sabha seats, which will now fall vacant as BJP president Amit Shah and former Union minister Smriti Irani have got elected from Gandhinagar and Amethi, respectively.

Thakore, whose political career witnessed a meteoric rise after he had joined Congress ahead of Gujarat polls in 2017, had parted ways with the party just before the Lok Sabha elections. He had, however, retained his position as an MLA and so far the assembly speaker was yet to initiate action to disqualify him as an MLA much to the chagrin of Congress, which has been repeatedly asking for the same. For the record, Thakore had also met Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Monday, sparking off further speculation on his possible shift of allegiance to BJP.