Sirsa ex-MP Ashok Tanwar resigns from AAP over alignment with Congress
Hisar, January 18
In yet another major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party in the state within a month, former Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar (47) resigned from the party citing AAP’s alignment with the Congress as the reason behind his decision.
Was congress mp from 2009 to 2014
- Tanwar had been the Congress MP from the Sirsa reserved Lok Sabha seat from 2009 to 2014
- Earlier, he held prominent positions in the Youth Congress as national president and president of the NSUI, party’s student wing
- He was considered close to Rahul Gandhi, but his rift with former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda led to an open bickering between two factions of the Congress
- As it reached a flashpoint, Tanwar was removed from Haryana Congress president’s post that irked him so much that he quit the party
Tanwar was the chairman of the election campaign committee of the Haryana unit of AAP. He was number two in the state AAP’s hierarchy after state president Sushil Gupta.
His meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and some other top leaders of the BJP in Delhi has triggered the speculation that he may join the BJP.
When contacted by The Tribune today, Tanwar said he had quit AAP and would decide on joining any party very soon. On December 28, AAP suffered a setback when former minister and four-time MLA Nirmal Singh and his daughter Chitra Sarwara quit the party and joined the Congress.
Reacting on speculation about Tanwar joining the BJP, state BJP president Nayab Saini said the matter was not in his cognisance. He, however, added that the doors were open for all in the BJP.
AAP state spokesperson Umesh Sharma maintained that it was an individual decision of Tanwar. “Tanwar had welcomed the alliance of the party with the INDIA bloc. Now his decision to resign from the party on this issue sounds strange,” he said.
Sources close to Tanwar, however, maintained that he was finding it difficult to fit in the scheme of things of AAP in the state. He aspired for the Rajya Sabha seat, but the party refused him the nomination.
Tanwar had also been the Haryana Congress president from February 2014 to September 2019. He left the Congress in 2019 immediately after he was replaced by Kumari Selja. He later joined the All India Trinamool Congress in November 2021 and switched over to AAP in April 2022.
He was reportedly instrumental in the AAP’s bid to expand its base in Haryana. AAP also obliged him when it fielded one of his close aides Satinder Singh, who left the Congress, from the Adampur Assembly constituency in the November 2022 byelection.
