Ahmedabad:Former Congress MP from Gujarat Jagdish Thakor today resigned from all party positions owing to his differences with the party’s state leadership.

However, Thakor will remain in the party as he has not resigned as a worker.

Thakor, who represented Patan seat from 2009 to 2014 in Lok Sabha, sent the resignation letter to Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela.

“I have resigned from all the posts (that) I was holding in Congress. However, I have not resigned as party worker. I have conveyed my decision to Solanki and Vaghela through a letter containing reasons behind my decision,” Thakor told PTI but refused to share the contents of the letter.

However, he openly expressed his displeasure about the functioning of the party in Gujarat.

“When Solanki and Vaghela came to meet me after getting my resignation, I refused to meet them. I clearly told them that I cannot work with them in the current situation,” said Thakor, hinting at rift between him and the state party leadership.

Thakor was a member of party’s co-ordination committee and is considered as a soft-spoken leader having clout on Thakor community, a decisive vote bank in north Gujarat.

Though he was a sitting MP, Thakor stayed away from contesting 2014 Lok Sabha polls and worked for the Congress.

Sources in the Congress claimed that Thakor was unhappy with the party leadership over some booth and ward level appointments in north Gujarat ahead of 2017 polls.

“Thakor was unhappy because he was not kept in loop while appointing some local leaders in north Gujarat as part of party’s pre-poll exercise. He felt sidelined and ignored. He might be upset because the party did not select his supporters as potential candidates for 2017 polls,” a Congress leader said.

PTI