New Delhi: A little over a week after Ashok Tanwar resigned from the Congress, the party’s former Haryana unit president Wednesday extended his support to Dushyant Chautala, the chief of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
Tanwar has, however, decided that he will not join the JJP but only support its candidates on ‘select seats’.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Chuatala at the Constitution Club of India, Tanwar said several parties had approached him since he resigned on October 5, but he decided to support Chautala on a majority of seats.
“There isn’t a single party in Haryana which hasn’t reached out to me since I resigned from the Congress. He (Chautala) asked me to support him and I have agreed to support the JJP on a majority of seats.”
While Tanwar didn’t specify which seats he will support the JJP in, he said he will “support the JJP in enough seats to ensure the party forms the government in Haryana, and Dushyant Chautala becomes the CM”.
However, Tanwar added that he will also support other party candidates in the remaining seats, including Congress candidates in some.
Tanwar said that even during the Lok Sabha elections he wanted to extend support to the JJP-AAP alliance. “The alliance failed because certain people in Congress weren’t in favour of it, but even then I personally wanted to support them,” he said.
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‘Tanwar support will increase JJP seat count’
Chautala said he is confident that with Tanwar’s support the JJP’s seat count will increase manifold.
“We had identified 58 seats where JJP has a stronghold, but after his (Tanwar’s) support, we might even be able to cross 75 seats,” Chautala said.
“Ashok Tanwar’s support to JJP will change the face of Haryana politics,” Chautala added.
On being asked if with this move of supporting the JJP he will be responsible for the Congress’ loss — a party he headed for several years in Haryana — Tanwar said it wouldn’t be his responsibility.
“Why would I be responsible for Congress’ loss? It is their awful ticket distribution that will be responsible.”
In his resignation letter to interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Tanwar had blamed the “serious internal contradictions” of the party and not political opponents for its current “existential crisis”.
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