The announcement on Saturday by Alpesh Thakor, backward leader of Gujarat, that he is joining the Congress was timed to coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second visit to his home State in one week.
Sources said Mr. Thakor joining the Congress was a “done deal” almost a month ago, and he met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at least once before the party decided to go public about its latest entrant.
Party insiders say the Congress’s Gujarat strategy — a closely worked-out affair among Mr. Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and the Congress Gujarat unit chief Bharatsinh Solanki — is to build a “rainbow coalition of politically dominant castes”.
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Apart from Mr. Thakor, the Congress has extended an invitation to Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel, who has been demanding reservation for the powerful Patel community. The party is also hoping to rope in lawyer-turned-Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani, who shot to fame after the Una incident when Dalit boys were stripped and beaten for removing the skin of a dead cow.
Mr. Thakor himself is a product of the Patidar agitation, as he had launched a counter-movement to protect the interests of Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes, who get reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.
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“Unlike States like Uttar Pradesh where organisationally we were nowhere, in Gujarat our party managed to win 60 seats in an Assembly of 182 seats. We have a base and we want to build on it,” a Congress leader said. Though the 24-year-old Hardik Patel cannot contest elections (minimum age to contest an Assembly election is 25), the Congress is confident about getting his group’s support.
Hours before wishing best of luck to Mr. Thakor, the Patidar leader tweeted: “I don’t want to contest elections, nor is it in our interest. We are fighting for our rights and justice. We have been fighting against arrogance, and victory will be ours.”