Tariq Anwar returns to Congress after 19 years

Days after quitting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), senior politician Tariq Anwar yesterday returned to the Congress in the presence of party President Rahul Gandhi - almost two decades after he walked out.Gandhi has welcomed Anwar into “the Congress family”, the party tweeted posting a picture of the two leaders shaking hands.Anwar quit the NCP and his Lok Sabha membership on September 28 expressing disagreement with party chief Sharad Pawar with whom he was upset for giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal.Anwar alomg with Sharad Pawar and some others quit the Congress in 1999 to protest against the appointment of Sonia Gandhi as the party chief because of her foreign origin.Meanwhile, in a setback to Telangana’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi ahead of the December 7 assembly elections, two senior leaders joined Congress yesterday.Telangana State Road Development Corporation (TSRDC) chairman T Narsa Reddy and member of the Legislative Council S Ramulu Naik joined the Congress in the presence of Gandhi in New Delhi.The TRS had suspended Narsa Reddy for anti-party activities on Friday.Ramulu Naik, a founder member of TRS, was also suspended from the party on similar grounds last week.TRS leader and Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas also met Gandhi and expressed his desire to return to the party.Srinivas, who was in Congress since 1969, switched loyalties to TRS in 2015, a year after the party formed the first government in the newly-created Telangana state.Srinivas had served as a minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh and also headed the Congress Party’s state unit.Congress general secretary R C Khuntia, who is in charge of party affairs in Telangana, told reporters that Narsa Reddy and Ramulu Naik joining the party would further bolster its prospects.