A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to poll-bound Gujarat, political equations tilted in favour of the opposition Congress party—Alpesh Thakore of OBC Ekta Manch announced that he would join the Congress on Monday.
After calling on the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Saturday evening, Thakore said that Gandhi would join the rally that he had convened in Gandhinagar, and that he would formally join the Congress then. Gandhi will also address the rally.
Thakore said that their fight was for the poor and the downtrodden, and that the Congress was listening to their voices. Forty-year-old Thakore has been fighting for strict prohibition rules in Gujarat. He has also been raising the issue of unemployment and problems faced by farmers.
Thakore said that he will work to ensure the victory of all 182 Congress candidates. He will join Congress along with his lakhs of supporters.
Thakore's father Khodabhai is the Ahmedabad district president of the Congress. Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki had extended an open invitation to Hardik Patel of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Alpesh Thakore of OBC Ekta Manch, and Jignesh Mewani, the dalit leader, to join hands with the party.
Congress has been out of power in Gujarat for the last 22 years.
Patel, however, had made it clear that he had no intentions to contest the elections and that nothing less than OBC category reservation for Patidars was acceptable to them. PAAS is believed to have given its set of demands to the Congress.
The Gujarat Congress president also invited Chhotubhai Vasava of the JD(U), and the Aam Aadmi Party. The MLA from Jhagadia, Vasava has a strong presence in the tribal belt. Though the AAP has no foothold in Gujarat, on certain seats, its candidates can get a few thousand votes.
Mewani said that he would take a decision after consulting the community.
Gujarat, with 182 assembly seats, will go to polls by December; the election dates are expected to be announced any time this week.
Congress' invitation to all three young leaders, JD(U) and the AAP, is seen as an attempt to ensure that the secular votes are not divided.
It is also seen as an attempt to put up a united front against the BJP, which is already under pressure due to the Patidar agitation, unrest among the OBCs and the dalits.
For the BJP, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani reacted by alleging that the Congress was using Patel, Thakore and Mewani as a votebank. The BJP leaders also asked the Congress to explain how it would give reservation to the Patidars.
The BJP, citing Supreme Court guidelines, has time and again maintained that reservation cannot exceed 49 per cent.
Following Thakore's announcement to join the Congress, all eyes are on Modi. The BJP is banking on its tallest leader to react to the new equations that are taking shape in his home state.
Modi will arrive on Sunday to inaugurate a ferry service between Ghogha in Bhavnagar and Dahej in south Gujarat. He will also launch a series of projects in Vadodara.
This is the last time that Modi will visit Gujarat, before the Election Commission of India announces dates for the polls in the state. The ECI had come under criticism by the Congress for not announcing the Gujarat poll dates along with that of Himachal Pradesh.
