Ashok Tanwar: Ex-Congress star and Rahul aide makes another jump in Haryana, leaves AAP, headed for BJP

In a blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Haryana, which has been seeing a slew of high-profile defections recently amid its attempts to build a cadre in the state ahead of the polls later this year, Ashok Tanwar, its election campaign committee chairman,resigned from the party on Thursday. He is likely to join the BJP soon.

Tanwar, who was earlier with the Congress, has cited the “current political scenario” and “Arvind Kejriwal’s alignment” with the Indian National Congress” as a key factor behind his move.

आम आदमी पार्टी से मेरा इस्तीफा..!!<a href=«https://twitter.com/ArvindKejriwal?ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">@ArvindKejriwal

— Ashok Tanwar (@Tanwar_Indian) <a href=«https://twitter.com/Tanwar_Indian/status/1747930819514245188?ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">January 18, 2024

Sources told The Indian Express that the leader had been “estranged” from the AAP for a while now and was expecting a Rajya Sabha ticket from the party.

Kurukshetra AAP district president Jagbir Jognakhera, who is an associate of Tanwar, had told The Indian Express on January 12 that he and several other associates of Tanwar had already resigned from the party.

Jognakhera said: “Tanwar has not been receiving due respect in the AAP… The party is in the hands of inexperienced people and workers are just numbers for them”.

Tanwar, a Dalit, was once considered one of the rising young Congress stars, and close to senior party leader Rahul Gandhi. After heading the Congress’s students wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), for two years from 2003, Tanwar, who studied in JNU, became the Indian Youth Congress president for a five-year period in 2005