Former Congress leader Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala on Thursday formally joined the BJP, a few months after speculation first rose that the Thakor leader was angling for a change of party. Both Thakor and Zala had been on a warpath in Congress and the two had resigned from the party on July 5, after allegedly cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. "In Congress, I could not work for the development of my people and my constituency. There is a lot of infighting and the leaders are not accessible while the BJP is a party of disciplined workers," Thakor told reporters after joining the Saffron party. With the resignations, the Congress' strength in the assembly has dwindled to 69. It had won 77 seats in 2017 Assembly elections. Thakor, 43, had earlier resigned from various posts in the Congress party in April but did not quit the party. At that time he had accused the leaders of being inaccessible and out of sync with the needs of the people. On Thursday, Thakor also praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Thakor had won the Radhanpur seat in Patan for Congress while Zala is an MLA from Bayad in Sabarkantha. Thakor's entry into the BJP was held at a function attended by Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani who described him as a self-made leader of the community. Thakor first joined the Congress in 2017 and later won the 2017 assembly polls. In 2018, he was appointed as the new Congress secretary and party co-i-charge of Bihar. Thakor had accused the local leadership of internal politics and the party had also approached the court seeking his disqualification. Congress lost the case in the High Court. Thakor received a lot of flak for the anti-migrant attacks in the state following the rape of a 14-month toddler by a migrant labourer in Himmatnagar. The toddler belonged to the same community as Thakor and during a speech he had called that such people be taught a lesson. Thakor, following the attack on North Indians, called for peace and also carried out a one-day Sadhbavana fast. He emerged as a prominent OBC leader after the 2015 Patidar quota agitation led by Hardik Patel. He mobilised members of his OBC community under the banner of Thakor Sena and vehemently opposed the demand to include Patels in the list of OBCs. ‘DISILLUSIONED’

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