Former MP Ashok Tanwar was officially inducted into the Congress on Friday and urged all sections, especially Dalits and backward classes, in Haryana to ensure a "big mandate" for the party in the assembly polls to send a message to the entire country.
Tanwar had informally joined the Congress at Rahul Gandhi's rally in Mahendragarh district in Haryana on Thursday, dealing a setback to the BJP ahead of the October 5 assembly polls.Hours before joining the Congress, the former Sirsa MP was campaigning for the BJP candidate in Safidon assembly constituency and exhorting voters to bring it back to power for a third time.
Tanwar was officially inducted into the Congress at the AICC headquarters by party treasurer Ajay Maken.
Later, Tanwar, accompanied by party MP Deepender Hooda, also met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
"We are with 36 communities in Haryana. Our resolve is for everyone. We will always raise the voice of Dalits, tribals, backward classes, minorities and the poor," Kharge said in a post on X.
He also shared pictures from the meeting.
Addressing a press conference, Tanwar said, "I began my political career with the Congress. In the last few months I was with the BJP, the environment that I saw, I was hurt over a number of issues, the faith that should be there in Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constitution is not there (in the BJP)."
"On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi is working on strengthening Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution and ensuring that people get their rights and unity in the country is strengthened," he said.
Tanwar credited the Congress for his political career.
"I request all Dalits and backward classes of Haryana that to make the state number one and to ensure people of Haryana get their rights... All sections, I request them to give a big mandate (to the Congress) to send a message to the country," he said.
The Dalit leader had on Thursday described his decision to return to the Congress as the "will of God".
"It's all circumstances, destiny and will of the people. Let bygones be bygones," Tanwar had told PTI on phone.
"I am joining the Congress exactly five years after I left it. That was the will of God then, today also it is the will of God... Sometimes, there is not much in your hands," he had said.
Asked on Friday about allegations of opportunism and losing from Sirsa parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket, Tanwar said, "If Ashok Tanwar was an opportunist, he would have gone to the BJP five years ago. So, from this platform, because today we want to start on a positive note, I would not like to say anything negative but the BJP itself knows that Ashok Tanwar did not lose there, the BJP lost there and the BJP's policy lost there."
Tanwar accused the BJP of disrespecting the Constitution and Dalit leaders.
Asked if there was a guarantee that he would now remain with the Congress, Tanwar replied with a Hindi idiom which loosely translates to if a person who loses his way in the morning returns home in the evening, he is not called lost.
"When you also leave home, no matter where you go in the world, you will come back and stay at home. When a person leaves home, then he realises the value of home more... Now I have understood the entire political system 360 degrees and that is why today I am standing with Rahul ji," he said.
At the rally in Bhawaria on Thursday, Tanwar shook hands with Gandhi and greeted former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who welcomed him into the party fold and patted his back.
Congress leaders K C Venugopal, Bajrang Punia, Rao Dan Singh and political scientist Yogendra Yadav were also present on stage.
