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AAP’s Ashok Tanwar to start state-wide tour from Jind today
Four days after joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), former state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar is all set to kick-off his state-wide tour to induct his old associates into the party fold from Jind on Saturday
Four days after joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), former state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar is all set to kick-off his state-wide tour to induct his old associates into the party fold from Jind on Saturday.
The former Sirsa MP visited Beri in Jhajjar to pay obeisance at Maa Bhimeshwari Devi Temple and attend some social rituals on Friday.
Tanwar had left the Congress ahead of the 2019 Haryana assembly polls after differences with former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over ticket distribution and on April 4, he joined the AAP in the presence of its chief convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Talking over the phone, Tanwar said he is ready to start a new inning of his political journey with AAP.
“People of Haryana want a clean and transparent government. The Opposition (Congress) is a divided house in the state and the grand-old party is a sinking ship. Many Congress workers and my ex-colleagues will join the AAP. Hundreds of new faces will be inducted into the party fold on Sunday,” he added.
On being asked about his new responsibility, Tanwar said he is not thinking about any post and is focused on strengthening the party in Haryana and other states.
“I had remained in key positions in the Congress and never dreamed of gaining key posts. People of Haryana are looking at an alternate front and the AAP is all set to deliver on their expectations,” the former state Congress chief added.
He said many MLAs, former legislators and prominent politicians of the state want to join the AAP but the party will induct honest and corrupt-free leaders.
Speaking on the ongoing tussle between Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja and leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Tanwar said the Congress leadership listens to “biggest blackmailer and those who can mount pressure on them”.
“The Congress has lost its ground across country and its relevance will be lost in Haryana too in the 2024 polls. Congress workers are feeling humiliated due to lack of unity and they have started switching sides to AAP. It has become a culture that a state Congress leader creates hurdles in any leader who gets the position of party’s Haryana president,” Tanwar added.
Tanwar, who was considered 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.
