Are Alpesh Thakor's negotiations with BJP falling apart? 

On May 30 when Alpesh Thakore went into Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel's cabin without an appointment, the Swarnim Sankool building was buzzing with conjecture that in a few mins he will join the BJP. Fast forward to June 27 when the world got to read Alpesh's application in Gujarat High Court over the petition made by Ashwin Kotwal, which reeked of desperation to hold on to his place in the Indian National Congress. 

In his application, he had claimed that he was 'technically' still a member of the Congress party and that he had only resigned from all other designations that he had held. So, the Congress' argument that Alpesh needs to be disqualified because he was not with the Congress anymore also fell flat. Another amusing statement was that he had not been given any formal notice or intimation of his resignation being accepted. That he had submitted his resignation letter to Rahul Gandhi on WhatsApp and that a 'chatting app conversation should not be admissible in the court of law.'

After Alpesh Thakor had tendered his resignation to INC president Rahul Gandhi on April 10, 2019, he had publically lashed out against the party and had sworn to campaign for the independent candidate in Banaskatha. He had complained that he was not given enough attention and importance and responsibilities. So, it was not a surprise that Congress party retaliated by sending a delegation led by MLA Ashwin Kotwal to Rajendra Trivedi (Speaker, Gujarat Legislative Assembly) office to file an application vehemently asking for immediate disqualification of Alpesh Thakor as an MLA from Radhanpur since he had fought on a Congress ticket. But after only a few days of not getting a response from the Speaker's office, Kotwal and team had filed a petition in Gujarat High court asking for immediate dismissal of Alpesh as an MLA. 

After two months of back-and-forth arguments from three legal representatives of Alpesh Thakor, Ashwin Kotwal and Rajendra Trivedi respectively, the court on Tuesday (June 2, 2019) finally gave the order that the judiciary cannot intervene with the proceedings of the state legislative assembly and neither can they give any direction to the Speaker to give out his order in haste. On Monday, the arguments ran for at least 5 hours in Gujarat High Court in front of the division bench of Justice SR Brahmbhatt and AP Thaker. In these, Hriday Buch (the Congress lawyer) also asked for an interim order to be given against Alpesh Thakor since, he claimed, 'too much time had passed already and that if Alpesh is allowed to continue as an MLA, an irreversible situation will arise.' Buch was referring to the Rajya Sabha elections on two seats (vacated by Smriti Irani and Amit Shah) that are scheduled to take place on July 5. 

This Rajya Sabha elections have also attracted a lot of controversy since the Congress party has already moved to Supreme Court seeking the elections of both the seats of RS to be held together and not be treated as independent two elections. According to the current strength of the BJP MLAs, if both the seats were to go for elections, BJP would stand to lose one of the seats. However, the buzz from the Congress clout is also that many of the MLAs are still all set to cross vote for the BJP candidates. Specifically, it would be an interesting insight into Alpesh Thakor's political future by observing which candidate he votes for, too. It has been no secret that Alpesh had been cozy with BJP leaders throughout his time as a Congress leader. He had frequently opposed INC leaders' public statements and had been openly showing his unhappiness with the Congress leaders. There are leaders who have questioned him from time to time and have treated him as a 'B Team' of the BJP. 

Then, perhaps, the BJP-joining ceremony is also at a standstill because of these elections which might prove to be a litmus test for Alpesh to show - for once and for all- where his loyalty lies.