West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday welcomed former Congress leaders Kirti Azad and Ashok Tanwar, along with former JD(U) MP Pavan Varma, into the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Delhi.
Since its victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections, for the third consecutive time, trumping the BJP, the TMC is keen to occupy the national stage at the expense of the Congress. Mr. Azad and Mr. Tanwar join the long list of Congress leaders who recently joined the TMC.
Mr. Tanwar, once considered close to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, was an MP from Sirsa during 2009-2014 and also the president of the party’s Haryana unit. He quit the Congress days before the Haryana Assembly elections in October 2019 after he was replaced by Kumari Selja and denied ticket for the Assembly elections. In February this year he launched his own party.
