Ex-Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar joins AAP

Former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, who had switched over to the Trinamool Congress in November last year, has joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi on Monday.

The former Sirsa MP had left the Congress ahead of the 2019 Haryana assembly polls after differences with former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over ticket distribution.

Welcoming him into AAP’s fold, Kejriwal tweeted, “Welcome to the AAP family. Your political experience from student politics to the Parliament will prove to be of great help to the party organisation in Haryana and across country.”

As per information, Tanwar was expecting to be nominated to the Upper House of the Parliament by the TMC and left the party after his aspirations were not fulfilled.

“My commitment to serve people is sacrosanct. As a step forward in my pursuit of public services, I am glad to commit myself to the AAP, which stands for honest politics and robust governance. My gratitude to AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for giving me this opportunity,” the former Sirsa MP and former All India Youth Congress’s national president Tanwar tweeted.

“I call upon the youth, the marginalised, peasants, the poor and women to join this process of reawakening. Let’s join hands to make a brighter better and bolder Haryana,” he added.

Tanwar, who was considered to be a close aide of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi launched his own Apna Bharat Morcha in February last year and later, in November, he joined the TMC. He had campaigned for Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in the 2019 assembly polls. Tanwar had won from the Sirsa parliamentary seat in 2009 and lost from the same seat in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sharp difference with Hooda

Tanwar had remained on the fore front against former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during his tenure as Haryana Congress president. The Delhi Police had booked former CM Hooda, his son Deepender Singh Hooda in 2017 for alleged assault of the then Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar on October 6, 2016 while they were waiting to welcome the then national Congress chief Rahul Gandhi upon his return from Uttar Pradesh.

Tanwar as an individual no big threat: Experts

Rohtak-based political analyst Satish Tyagi said Tanwar had joined the AAP after he did not get the political mileage that he had expected from the TMC leadership.

“The AAP’s functioning is different from other parties and Tanwar is a good choice for AAP as he hails from a middle-class Dalit family. Tanwar as an individual is not a big threat to opponents but the AAP can be,” he added.

Retired political science professor Anant Kumar said after the AAP’s landslide victory in the neighbouring Punjab, many Haryana leaders, who were ignored by the political parties, are dreaming of a future in AAP and Tanwar is among them.

“He failed to form Congress’s organisation in Haryana during his tenure as Congress state chief due to differences with Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He is not a charismatic leader but can be handy for the AAP,” he added.