The BJP’s attempt to play the Dalit card in Haryana suffered a blow as the party’s key face from the community, Ashok Tanwar, returned to the Congress just hours before the end of campaigning for the October 5 Assembly elections.

The switch left the ruling party red-faced as Tanwar literally drove from a BJP rally to appear on the stage of a Rahul Gandhi rally and announced that he had rejoined the Congress. As part of its poll strategy, the BJP had been desperately seeking to label the Congress anti-Dalit, referring to the “undermining” of key leaders from the community, including Tanwar.

“The Congress has always raised its voice for the rights of the oppressed and marginalised and has fought with full dedication to protect the Constitution. Inspired by this struggle and commitment, today senior BJP leader, former MP, a member of the BJP’s campaign committee in Haryana, and star campaigner Shri Ashok Tanwar has joined the Congress,” the Congress said in a post on X, seeking to obliquely hit back at the BJP’s anti-Dalit campaign.

Tanwar has been a party hopper but his political career started in the Congress’s student wing, NSUI. He became the president of the Congress’s youth wing in 2007 and was perceived to be close to Rahul. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 from the Sirsa seat. He lost the polls in 2014 but was made Haryana Congress president.

He, however, quit the Congress ahead of the 2019 Haryana polls protesting against “favouritism” in ticket distribution. First, he launched his own party, then joined the Trinamool Congress and left the party after around a year to join the Aam Aadmi Party in 2022.

Ahead of the last general election, he joined the BJP in Delhi and was presented by the party as a prominent catch and fielded from the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat. He, however, lost the election to Congress’s Kumari Selja, another Dalit face.

On Thursday, around an hour before he appeared on the Congress stage with Rahul, he had posted pictures of his campaign for the BJP, expressing confidence that the saffron party was set to form the government in the state for the third term.

“Joined the @INCIndia family at Mahendragarh rally in the presence of former Congress president & Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha @RahulGandhi ji,” he posted on X without deleting his BJP campaign posts.

The BJP, seeking a third straight term, is seen to be battling simmering voter anger in Haryana. The party had latched on to the strategy to divide the Dalit votes, recalling attacks on the community during Congress rule and also accusing the Opposition party of sidelining their key Dalit leader Selja.