OBC leader Alpesh Thakor's move from Cong to BJP backfires

In a setback to his political career, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, who switched sides from the Congress to the BJP, lost Assembly by-election from Radhanpur in Gujarat by a margin of 3,807 votes on Thursday.

Thakor, who had joined the Congress in 2017 and was made national secretary and in-charge of Bihar, quit his post before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Later he resigned as MLA and joined BJP citing differences with the state Congress leadership, necessitating the October 21 by-election.

Congress candidate Raghubhai Desai defeated Thakor as the result of the election came in on Thursday.

Thakor had emerged as an OBC leader by opposing inclusion of the Patidar (Patel) community in the Other Backward Class category for reservations.

His close aide Dhavalsinh Jhala, who also crossed over to the BJP and resigned as MLA, lost the resultant by-election from Bayad on Thursday.

"I accept the defeat and thank my voters for their support. I have lost due to casteist politics of the opposition which will be dangerous for democracy," Thakor said.

The opposition Congress said that people had taught a lesson to Thakor and his supporters.

"I brought Alpesh Thakor into the Congress. He was given an important post in the party and ticket for assembly polls and he won. Everything was going fine, but then he started behaving strangely and left the Congress," Congress leader Bhartsinh Solanki said.

"The people of the state and especially the OBC Thakor samaj to which I also belong felt that his act of switching sides was not correct. He has been taught a lesson," Solanki added.

State BJP president Jitu Vaghani denied allegations that BJP workers sabotaged Thakor's campaign.

"Our workers do not indulge in sabotage. We will analyse the defeat," Vaghani said.

Earlier, Thakor was in the forefront of strong protests against migrant labourers when a girl was allegedly raped by labourer from Bihar.