I should not stay in a party where I am being insulted, ignored and betrayed, Alpesh said.
Zala, a close associate of Thakor, was the MLA from Bayad in Sabarkantha district.
Apart from these leaders, the Congress also hinted at forging a pre-poll alliance with Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and bringing on board Chhotu Vasava, the lone Janata Dal-United MLA from the state.
'He is a man of action and goes to the ground and solves the problem.' 'Be it the Air India crash of Ahmedabad, Morbi bridge collapse, Deesa blast or Gambhira bridge collapse, he is on the spot.'
'The people of Gujarat are more religious than people of other states, this gives the BJP an advantage.'
Thakor, who launched a vitriolic attack on the Congress after resigning from the assembly membership, said he voted for 'honest national leadership'.
Though the election officials were yet to make formal announcement, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani informed the media about the victory.
'Mobs are entering north Indian homes and threatening families to leave Gujarat or face consequences.'
Here's how our netas faring in the elections.
The Congress had won 77 seats in the 2017 assembly elections. Of these 77 legislators, as many as 20 resigned during the past five years, with three quitting in the last two days alone.
The quota stir by Patels has led to the emergence of new leaders on the political scene of Gujarat.
Mevani, after his meeting with the Gandhi scion, said he would ask his community members to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Gujarat polls.
As many as 833 candidates are in the fray across 93 constituencies which will go to polls on December 5. Votes will be counted on December 8.
Ahead of the elections, a lot had been spoken of the large number of leaders defecting from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. In fact, a month before the polls, more than two dozen Congress-NCP leaders quit and joined the BJP in hopes of riding high on the Narendra Modi wave. While for some the shift has brought in good fortune, for others it has brought loss. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com analyses how these defectors have fared.
The BJP has been blaming Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and his outfit Gujarat Kshatriya-Thakor Sena for the outbreak of violence against Hindi-speaking people in the state.
Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for the Gujarat assembly elections which were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 across 33 districts of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state.
Six Bharatiya Janata Party leaders including a sitting MLA and four former legislators have filed nominations as independents after being denied tickets by the party for the next month's Gujarat Assembly elections.
Gujarat has registered a voter turnout of 64.33 per cent for the recently-concluded elections to 182 assembly seats, a drop of more than 4 per cent as compared to the turnout registered in the 2017 polls.
Of these 14, all but three won the election on Thursday.
Rahul Gandhi mostly stayed away from the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, choosing to focus on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The party is set to rule the state for the sixth term.
Claiming that no untoward incident had taken place during the last 48 hours, Rupani said the situation has been brought under control by police.
While the Congress is elated to see the new caste dynamics coming to its rescue, the BJP still believes that no one is leaving its ship.
A total 2.51 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the second phase of elections, including 1.29 crore men and 1.22 crore women.
Gandhi attacked Modi and the BJP while latching on to the bribery allegation made by Narendra Patel, an activist of the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti.
As counting is underway in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, we take a look at who's leading and who's trailing.
Non-Gujaratis were targeted and hate messages circulated against them on social media after a native of Bihar was arrested for allegedly raping the toddler on September 28.
Solanki, on his part, confirmed the Congress had the backing of the PAAS, adding they had come to agreement on numerous issues with the Patidar leaders, which would be announced soon.
While the BJP faces rebellion in some pockets and an undercurrent of anger palpable among the dominant OBC Chaudhary community due to the arrest of dairy cooperative leader and former home minister Vipul Chahduary, local caste dynamics and selection of candidates are likely to play a major role in the final outcome, political analysts said.
The body was taken to Vankar's hometown Unjha in Mehasana district, where his last rites will be performed later on Monday, Subodh Parmar of the Dalit Adhikar Manch said.
"I don't care if someone doesn't like my visits to Madhya Pradesh. I will continue to talk about farmers, employment to the youth and good education," said the Patidar agitation leader.
"I like Rahul Gandhi at a personal level, but I do not consider him as a leader because he is not my leader," Patel also said at an event.
Voting for the 75 municipalities was held on last Saturday and the results were declared on Monday.
A total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are contesting the polls in these assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.
The Patidar community leader pitched for constitutional protection to the provision of reservation for them so as to preclude a judicial review.
'He is just a 22 year old who has no knowledge of India's laws or Constitution. How will such a man handle a discussion on reservations in an intelligent, lawful manner?' 'Let me alert everybody that he is using the 1985 formula. Back then they opposed reservations based on caste for OBCs and now they want to be included in the same category. This clearly tells us what their intention is. They don't want reservations; they want reservations to be cancelled altogether.'
Although the authorities had maintained till the last minute that Mevani and his supporters did not have permission to hold the event, it seems the rally organisers and Delhi Police reached a compromise later.
It was a high-stakes three-cornered fight between the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.
Political observers say that except for a strong anti-incumbency sentiment, there is little that might go against the BJP.
Patel was administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat.
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