BJP chooses Congress ex-MP Ashok Tanwar over Sunita Duggal in Sirsa

Deepender Deswal

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Hisar, March 15

The BJP has dropped sitting MP Sunita Duggal to field Ashok Tanwar, the former Congress state president, who joined the BJP about two months ago, from the Sirsa (reserved) constituency.

A political turncoat, Tanwar joined the BJP on January 20 this year after ending his short association with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Haryana. Tanwar has been a former MP from Sirsa who got elected in 2009 on the Congress ticket. However, he lost in 2014 and 2019 from here to the INLD and BJP, respectively.

Born in Chimni village in Jhajjar district, Tanwar graduated from Kakatiya University in Warangal and later obtained MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in History from Jawahar Lal Nehru University. In 1999, he was made the secretary of the NSUI and later became the president of the body in 2003. Tanwar thanked the Central and state party leaders for nominating him from the Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency.

His political stint in Haryana started in 2009 when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ‘sent’ him to Sirsa. Later, he had an internal tussle with Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and finally left the Congress on October 4, 2019.

After the candidature of Tanwar by the BJP, all eyes are on the Congress candidate. Sources said the Congress had a number of aspirants, which included four-time Lok Sabha MP and former Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja. She has also been a minister at the Centre during the UPA government. Selja has won from the Sirsa seat twice in 1991 and 1996 and lost once to the INLD candidate in 1998. She later shifted to Ambala and won twice from Ambala, too.

Other probables include Shishpal Keharwal, Congress MLA from the Kalanwali (reserved) Assembly segment, former MP Charanjit Singh Rori, who belongs to Ramdasia Sikh community, two-time former MP Sushil Indora (who won the seat in 1998 and 1999 ) on the INLD ticket. The name of Jhajjar MLA and former minister Geeta Bhukkal and national secretary Pradeep Narwal are also doing the rounds in the Congress circles.

Political experts said after the arrival of Tanwar on the BJP ticket, it has become a tough call for the Congress to take a decision on the party candidate. A political expert said, “Selja should take the field as she has the legacy of her two-time stint and also her father Dalbir Singh, who had represented Sirsa in the Lok Sabha thrice in 1971, 1980 and 1984.”