NEW DELHI: In a boost to the AAP in Haryana, former Congress leader Ashok Tanwar joined the Arvind Kejriwal-led party on Monday.
He was inducted into the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by its national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal.
Senior AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other leaders were present at Kejriwal's residence on the occasion.
"I wholeheartedly welcome him to our family and also the sea of the supporters that have accompanied Ashok ji to AAP. My roots go back to Haryana so I am delighted to see our Haryana unit getting strengthened like this," Kejriwal said in a statement.
"I am certain with the vision of Ashok ji we will drive change in Haryana too. I hope that in the coming days AAP will form the government in the state too," he added.
Tanwar, a former MP from Sirsa in Haryana, had quit the Congress in 2019.
Last year in November, he had joined the Trinamool Congress.
Considered to be once close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Tanwar had served as the president of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) for five years before he was replaced by Selja Kumari in September 2019.
He started his journey in politics as a student leader and served as the president of Indian Youth Congress and the Congress' students' wing NSUI.
While addressing a joint press conference with Sisodia and other party leaders later, Tanwar expressed his gratitude to the AAP national convenor for inducting him into his party, and said, "Arvind Kejriwal is a strong son of India and I believe that he will emerge much more stronger in the coming days."
He said Kejriwal has given a ray of hope to the people of the country with his model of governance in Delhi and his party's ideology of taking the country on the path of progress by uniting people in one common thread of "brotherhood".
"I am with him with all my dedication, capacity and experience," he said.
Welcoming Tanwar to his party, Sisodia said the former Congress leader from Haryana has joined the AAP with an objective to take forward "Kejriwal's model of governace and his politics in Haryana".
The AAP will also be benefited by his experience in execution of its national expansion plan, he said.
The joining of Tanwar was seen 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.
"Haryana is number one in corruption. We all will work to change this system. We will end the divisive politics and make Haryana a prosperous state," AAP's Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta, who is also in-charge of political affairs in Haryana, told the press conference.
Besides Tanwar, two other local leaders--Sandeep Bhardwaj and Vikas Bhardwaj-- and a journalist from Haryana Shiv Kumar also joined the AAP.
Several local leaders from the Congress, BJP and other parties recently joined the AAP in Haryana since its landslide victory in Punjab.