Up until about 1:45 p.m. today, Ashok Tanwar was actively campaigning for the BJP and tweeting his support for the party’s Nalwa candidate. Hardly sixty minutes afterward, he was spotted on a platform among Congress leaders for his ‘ghar wapsi’.
In the run-up to the Haryana Assembly election, former BJP MP Ashok Tanwar was out campaigning for his party’s nominee at about 1:45 p.m. on Thursday. An hour later, Rahul Gandhi watched as Tanwar unexpectedly reappeared at a Congress rally and re-joined the party.
The move is a blow to the BJP’s hopes of holding onto power in the state and comes just two days before the Haryana Assembly election.
Tanwar continued to rally for the BJP into the afternoon on the final day of the Assembly election campaign. He was seen promoting BJP candidate Randhir Panihar, who is running from the Nalwa seat, on social media. He added that Nayab Saini will lead the BJP in forming a government in Haryana.
Tanwar returned to the fold with a hearty reception when he took the stage at a Congress rally hardly an hour later.
Rahul Gandhi encouraged the audience to wait for a surprise announcement as he wrapped up his speech at a rally in the Mahendragarh district. Tanwar, who had earlier this year defected to the BJP, appeared unexpectedly on stage a short while later.
Prominent Dalit leader and former president of the Haryana Congress Ashok Tanwar left the party in 2019 following a disagreement with senior Congressman Bhupinder Singh Hooda. His return is anticipated to provide the Congress a significant assist in its efforts to dislodge the BJP in the state, coming just before the October 5 Assembly elections campaigning deadline.
Rahul Gandhi and Hooda welcomed Tanwar cordially on stage and patted him on the back to welcome him back into the party. KC Venugopal, a senior Congressman, was also there when the announcement was made.
Over the past few years, Ashok Tanwar’s political career has been filled with events. Tanwar briefly joined the Trinamool Congress in 2019 after quitting the Congress, then in 2022, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Earlier this year, he became a member of the BJP.
His timely return to the Congress is expected to galvanize the party’s efforts in the approaching polls.
On October 5, Haryana will hold a one-phase assembly election. On October 8, there will be a vote count.
