Gandhinagar: Amidst rumours of joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gujarat MLA Alpesh Thakor, who had quit Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election 2019, met Deputy Chief Minister Nitinbhai Patel on Monday. 


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Thakor had resigned from Congress in April. He had been facing pressure from Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena - an outfit he himself had established - to quit the party.


Speculations were rife that the former Congress leader is likely to join BJP. When Patel was asked about his induction into the BJP, he had earlier said that "doors of the party are open for anybody who wants to join in."


"We welcome everybody who wants to join us and follow the BJP ideology," he said.


He had joined the Congress ahead of Gujarat Assembly poll in 2017 along with his supporters and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district.


He had emerged as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat after the Patidar community, led by Hardik Patel, launched an agitation for reservation in jobs and education under the OBC category.


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Thakor had rallied OBC communities of Gujarat against the demand of the Patidar community.


However, his name was embroiled in the violence against migrant workers in Gujarat last year.


The violence started when a minor girl of the Thakor community was allegedly raped by a migrant labourer.


(With PTI inputs)