BJP leader and ex-MP Tanwar rejoins Congress
Just an hour ago around 1.45 pm, Tanwar addressed a rally in favour of BJP candidate Randhir Panihar in Hisar’s Nalwa, and he claimed that the BJP will form the government for the third time in Haryana.
Ashok Tanwar, former MP from Sirsa, has rejoined the Congress party. Tanwar returned to Congress in the presence of senior party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Bhupinder Singh Hooda during an election rally in Mahendergarh on Thursday.
Just an hour ago around 1.45 pm, Tanwar addressed a rally in favour of BJP candidate Randhir Panihar in Hisar’s Nalwa, and he claimed that the BJP will form the government for the third time in Haryana.
An hour later, Tanwar appeared on the stage in Mahendergarh, where he was welcomed into the fold by Rahul and Hooda. His return to the grand-old party was termed as ‘unki ghar vapsi hui hai’ (he has returned back to the Congress).”
The ruling BJP was targeting Congress over “ignoring” Dalit leaders in the party and the saffron party suffered a major blow on the last day of canvassing.
On January 20, he had joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on BJP’s ticket from Sirsa and he was denied ticket in the assembly polls. Tanwar, a Dalit leader, is a former Sirsa MP and a former Haryana Congress president who had resigned from the party in 2019. He had switched over to the Trinamool Congress in November 2021 and embraced AAP in April 2022.
Tanwar’s electoral history
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, as a Congress candidate, Ashok Tanwar had defeated INLD nominee Sita Ram by 35,499 votes from Sirsa (SC) seat. In the next parliamentary elections in 2014, INLD candidate Charanjeet Singh Rori defeated Tanwar from Sirsa by 1.15 lakh votes. Tanwar was defeated again in 2019 by BJP’s Sunita Duggal in Sirsa by over 3 lakh votes.
Addressing a rally in Mahendergarh in favour of party candidates from Narnaul, Ateli, Nangal Chaudhary and Mahendergarh assembly segments, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and the RSS of dividing people on the caste and religion lines. “We spread love and BJP spreads hate among people. India is not a country of hatred; it is the country of ‘mohabbat’. And you have shown this to the entire country,” he said.
Holding a copy of the Constitution, Rahul said it had protected the rights of the poor, farmers, women, Dalits and labourers but the “BJP and the RSS are continuously attacking the Constitution”. “If the Constitution is abolished, then you, the poor, would not have anything. Your land, money, and water will vanish. When Modi ji waives ₹16 lakh crore of 25 industrialists and does not waive loans of farmers and students then he is attacking the Constitution,” he added.
He alleged that the unemployment in the BJP regime has forced Haryana youths to move abroad using illegal routes.
“Modi ji brought three black farm laws to help Adani and destroy farmers, then he is attacking the Constitution,” he alleged.
The Congress leader promised to give 2 lakh government jobs to Haryana youths from all castes and religion, a gas cylinder at ₹500, ₹2,000 allowance per month to women and he assured the farmers that their crops will be procured on the minimum support price (MSP).
In another attack, Rahul alleged that the Agnipath scheme was brought to benefit billionaire Gautam Adani and it’s a way to “snatch” a soldier’s pension, canteen facilities and martyr status he gets. “This scheme was brought with an intention to help Adani, who supplies weapons to the Indian army after purchasing from Israel and other countries and to prevent soldiers from getting their benefits like pension, canteen facilities and martyr status they get. A company owned by Adani was putting its labels on weapons being manufactured by foreign nations and supplying to our army. The money, which was reserved to give benefits to soldiers, was given to Adani by formulating Agnipath scheme,” Rahul alleged.
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