BJP Leader At 1.45 PM, Congress Returnee At 2.45 PM: The Curious Case Of Ashok Tanwar In Haryana

Between 1.45 pm and 2.45 pm, Haryana’s prominent Dalit leader, Ashok Tanwar, changed his mind and party affiliation. It is not known what happened in that crucial hour, but the star campaigner made the switch from the BJP to the Congress on Thursday.

Only an hour before his “ghar wapsi” to the Congress in the presence of senior leader Rahul Gandhi, Tanwar made a social media post endorsing a BJP candidate at an election rally. With two days left for the state to go to polls on October 5, this comes as a setback to the BJP as he is a senior leader and former MP.

He joined the Congress at Gandhi’s rally in Mahendragarh district. As the Congress MP was winding up his speech, an announcement was made from the stage asking the audience to wait for a few minutes. Soon after, Tanwar, who had joined the BJP earlier this year, walked onto the stage and it was announced that “aaj unki ghar wapsi ho gayi hai (today, he has returned to the Congress fold)”.

Posting the video of the rally on social media, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said: “Life is a circle”. Taking a dig at former Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said: Poor Khattar ji, who has been telling tales about how the BJP has gained our Dalit leaders, has ended up losing their own Dalit leader.”

Tanwar joined the party hours before the campaigning for the Haryana assembly elections comes to an end at 6 pm. His return to the Congress is likely to come as a boost for the party, which is looking to wrest power from the BJP after a decade.

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A former Haryana Congress president, he was considered close to Gandhi and had left the Congress in 2019 following differences with senior party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. But, on the day he returned to the party fold, Hooda was seen patting his back at the rally. He also shook hands with Gandhi as senior Congress leader KC Venugopal looked on.

While being a prominent leader in his own right, Tanwar is known to make frequent switches between parties. He had joined the AAP in April 2022. Before joining the AAP, he was briefly with the Trinamool Congress.

(With PTI inputs)