Former Haryana Congress Chief Ashok Tanwar Joins AAP

Tanwar had quit the Congress party in 2019 ahead of the Haryana Assembly elections.

Former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar with AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. 

(Photo: Twitter/@Tanwar_Indian)

Further strengthening its cadre, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday, 4 April, received a boost in Haryana, with former state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar joining the party.

Tanwar had quit the Congress in 2019 and had joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in November 2021.

He tweeted a photo with AAP chief Kejriwal, saying, "My commitment to serve people is sacrosanct! As a step forward in my pursuit of public service, I am glad to commit myself to Aam Aadmi Party, which has stood for honest politics and robust governance."

Kejriwal also took to Twitter to welcome Tanwar to the AAP.

"Welcome to the Aam Aadmi Party family, Ashok ji. Your political experience from student politics to Parliament will certainly prove to be of great help to the party organisation in Haryana and across the country," Kejriwal tweeted.

This comes after the AAP won a landslide victory in the recently-held Punjab Legislative Assembly election.

Before joining the TMC, Tanwar had launched his own outfit – Apna Bharat Morcha – in February 2021.

He had left the Congress in 2019, just ahead of the Assembly election in the state, after an infighting in the party's state unit and tensions with the former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Tanwar was considered to be a close political aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, especially when the former was the chief of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), news agency ANI reported.

Tanwar also held several important posts in the Congress apart from the presidency of the IYC. He was made the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee as well as the secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

(With inputs from ANI.)