New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi inducted former aide Ashok Tanwar, who was the BJP's only Dalit face in Haryana, on the last day of campaigning on Thursday ahead of the crucial October 5 Assembly elections.
Dalits constitute around 21 per cent voters across Haryana and play an important role on several Assembly seats, a reason which explains the return of Tanwar, a former Youth Congress chief, who was deployed as state unit chief by Rahul Gandhi in 2014.
However, Tanwar's consistent power struggles and differences over ticket distribution with former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda led to his parting ways with the Congress before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Since then, Tanwar has had stints with the TMC, AAP and BJP. He contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on a saffron party ticket and campaigned in favour of BJP's candidate in the Hansi seat on Oct 2.
Two days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged that Congress was anti-Dalit party while addressing a rally in Palwal. Congress insiders said Rahul's move was a message to the saffron party, whose former Chief Minister ML Khattar was till recently floating rumours that prominent Dalit leader of grand old party Kumari Selja was about to join the BJP as she had issues with Hooda.
"Ashok Tanwar's joining will help the Congress in the state. This is his 'ghar-wapsi'. We welcome him. The BJP has not done anything for the Dalits and only paid lip service to them," All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in charge of Haryana Manoj Chauhan told ETV Bharat.
"We have run a positive campaign based on local issues like jobs, crime against women and the plight of the farmers. Our main focus is on social justice for all communities,” he said.
Interestingly, hours before Tanwar joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi, who addressed a rally at Mahendragarh, Kumari Selja had a half-an-hour meeting with former party chief Sonia Gandhi. According to party insiders, the focus on the Dalit voters was the reason why Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge intervened to settle a dispute between Hooda and Selja and why Rahul Gandhi launched his election campaign from Assandh, an assembly seat under Selja's area of influence.
All through his campaign Rahul has been dubbing the saffron party as anti-Constitutional saying the ruling party wanted to take away reservation from the marginalised communities.
The campaign had worked well against the saffron party during the recent Lok Sabha polls. Elsewhere in the state, Rajasthan unit chief Govind Dotasara and RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav campaigned in favour of Congress candidates Vardhan Yadav in Badshahpur and Chiranjiv Rao in Rewari.
"The BJP leaders instigate locals in Bihar and up against the Yadavs and in Haryana they instigate other communities against the Jats. You need to be careful in this election," activist Yogendra Yadav said while addressing the Mahendragarh rally.
Rahul also addressed a rally in the Muslim-dominated Nuh area, where the saffron party is not strong, to seek votes for party candidates. The Congress has been carefully projecting itself as a party for all social groups.
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