Haryana Assembly Election 2204 | Days before polls, BJP's Ashok Tanwar rejoins Congress at Rahul Gandhi's rally

Chandigarh: Five years after he left the party, Ashok Tanwar returned to Congress in dramatic fashion on Thursday in the presence of top leader Rahul Gandhi just after addressing a BJP campaign meeting in Haryana.

Tanwar’s political somersault comes as a setback for the BJP as it has been claiming during the Haryana campaign that the Dalit leader was mistreated in Congress and had to leave the party. He has been a former Congress MP.

Before rejoining Congress at a campaign rally in Mahendragarh district, he has spent time in Trinamool Congress, AAP and BJP since 2021. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, he unsuccessfully contested as a BJP candidate against Kumari Selja in Sirsa.

Tanwar (48) rushed to Bhawaria Congress rally venue soon after finishing his campaign for BJP candidate in Safidon Assembly seat.

At the Congress venue, an announcement was made asking party workers to wait for a few minutes as Rahul wound up his speech. Soon, Tanwar appeared on stage while a Congress leader announced that he has returned to the party.

Tanwar, once considered close to top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, had quit the Congress in 2019 after intense infighting in Haryana Congress. 

He was at loggerheads with former Chief Minister  Bhupinder Hooda when he was Haryana Congress president and had been complaining that the former was not cooperating with him in the organisation and was replaced by Selja.

Tanwar, who was also Youth Congress president, joined Trinamool Congress in November 2021 but left it to join AAP in April 2022 at a time the Kejriwal-led party was trying to make a mark in the north Indian state after its stunning victory in Punjab. 

Assembly Elections 2024 | In the first assembly polls since the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi and the BJP face a rejuvenated and vindicated Opposition in the Haryana assembly polls. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir is voting after almost a decade and it remains to be seen how the abrogation of Article 370 has impacted the political landscape of the Valley. Track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.