Haryana AAP leader Ashok Tanwar resigns, cites party's 'alignment' with Congress

Amid speculation that Tanwar is headed to the saffron bloc, he wrote to Kejriwal saying that his 'ethics' would not allow him to continue as AAP's Haryana Election Campaign Committee Chairperson.

New Delhi: Ashok Tanwar, who had stints in Congress and Trinamool Congress, on Thursday announced his resignation from AAP citing the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's negotiations with the Congress as part of the I.N.D.I.A bloc.

Amid speculation that he is headed to the saffron bloc, he wrote to Kejriwal saying that his ethics would not allow him to continue as AAP's Haryana Election Campaign Committee Chairperson "in view of the current political scenario and your alignment with the Congress" and that he was resigning from the primary membership of the party.

"As a responsible citizen of this country and being into active politics since my student days, I have always believed in our Constitution, the country and its people first. I will continue to work for the betterment of the state of Haryna, our beloved country Bharat and its people (sic)," he wrote in the letter.

Ashok Tanwar, a Dalit leader who ascended through the ranks and was closely associated with top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, resigned from the Congress in 2019 amid intense infighting within the Haryana Congress.

His differences with former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda during his tenure as Haryana Congress president led to conflicts, with Tanwar alleging lack of cooperation from Hooda. He was subsequently replaced by Kumari Selja.

Tanwar, who had also served as the Youth Congress president, joined the Trinamool Congress in November 2021 but switched to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in April 2022 at a time when the Kejriwal-led party is trying to make a mark in the north Indian state after its stunning victory in Punjab.