Eyes on 2024 Polls: Who is Ashok Tanwar? Rahul Gandhi's aide who is currently with TMC, to join AAP today

New Delhi, Apr 4: In a boost to the AAP in Haryana, former Congress leader Ashok Tanwar is set to join the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

He will join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday in the presence of AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, party sources said.

Tanwar, former MP from Sirsa in Haryana, had quit the Congress in 2019.

Joining of Tanwar is expected to come as a shot in the arm of the AAP with the party working on the expansion of its base in Haryana in view of the assembly polls in 2024.

Several local leaders from the Congress, BJP and other parties recently joined the AAP since the party's landslide victory in Punjab.

Who is Ashok Tanwar?

Tanwar was president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) and also served as the president of Indian Youth Congress and the party's students' wing NSUI.

Born in a chamar caste to a family of farmer in Chimni, Jhajjar district, Haryana to Dilbag Singh and Krishna Rathi, Tanwar did his BA from the Kakatiya University, Warangal. He went to Jawaharlal Nehru University's centre for Historical studies and completed his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. (Medieval Indian History).

Tanwar rose to prominence when he fought the election for the president of student union of JNU. He became NSUI's secretary in 1999 and its president in 2003. Under his leadership, the NSUI won two elections in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) since he took over in 2003 and improved its performance in the Left dominated JNU.

During Ashok Tanwar's term as president, the Indian Youth Congress tried to strengthen its network at block, district and state level through workshops, seminars, street plays and social work related to the public issues.

Lok Sabha elections
In 2009 he won the Lok Sabha elections from Sirsa in Haryana as a Congress party's candidate with a margin of 35499 votes. However he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as Congress Party's candidate to Charanjeet Singh Rori of Indian National Lok Dal.

President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee
He became the president of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee on 14 February 2014. He was succeeded by Selja Kumari as party president on 4 September 2019. He quit the Indian National Congress on 5 October 2019.