Rumblings in Haryana AAP, ex-MP Tanwar skips party events

According to sources close to Tanwar, the former Sirsa MP was disappointed after he was not nominated by the party for the Rajya Sabha seat, and he has been incommunicado for the past two weeks.

Former Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, chairman of Aam Aadmi Party’s campaigning committee in Haryana, has been distancing himself from party programmes for the past two weeks and he is likely to switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this month.

Former Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar (File)

According to sources close to Tanwar, the former Sirsa MP was disappointed after he was not nominated by the party for the Rajya Sabha seat, and he has been incommunicado for the past two weeks.

“Tanwar is in Delhi and is meeting with BJP leaders and is likely to join the saffron party soon. He met Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal in Delhi and would quit the AAP soon,” said sources.

Last week, senior AAP leaders — Nirmal Singh and his daughter Chitra Sarwara — had parted ways with the party and switched over to Congress in presence of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and party’s Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria in Delhi.

In April last year, Tanwar had shifted to Aam Aadmi Party from Trinamool Congress and described AAP as “ummeed ki kiran” (ray of hope) and a platform to serve honest politics and robust governance.

Tanwar, who was in-charge of Fatehabad, had skipped the meeting of party’s organisational secretary Sandeep Pathak in Fatehabad last week and his followers had also distanced themselves from attending the party’s meetings.

When contacted, AAP’s Haryana unit senior vice-president Anurag Dhanda admitted that Tanwar has not been attending party programmes for the past two weeks. He asserted that he has no information about Tanwar and has had no contact with him for the past some days.

People close to Tanwar accused Dhanda and party’s state chief Sushil Gupta of ignoring leaders, who have supporters on the ground.

Despite repeated attempts, AAP leader Ashok Tanwar could not be reached for a comment.