Former NCP leader Tariq Anwar joins Congress

Former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar on Saturday returned to the Congress fold after a meeting with party president Rahul Gandhi.

Anwar along with his supporters met Rahul at his official Tughlaq Lane residence and was welcomed into the party fold by senior leaders Ashok Gehlot, Shaktisinh Gohil and Bihar Congress President Madan Mohan Jha.

Anwar, the leader of the NCP Parliamentary Party, had parted ways with the NCP on September 28 after party supremo purportedly defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale aircraft deal.

A six-term MP, Anwar was the founder member of the NCP which was formed by him, Pawar and late P A Sangma over the “foreign origin” issue of Sonia Gandhi in 1999.

A former president of Congress's Bihar unit, Anwar began his career by winning the 1980 Lok Sabha seat from Katihar as the Congress candidate. He was considered close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and rose to become the National President of the Indian Youth Congress and later the political secretary to the then Congress president Sitaram Kesri in 1998.

Anwar won the Katihar Parliamentary seat in 2014 as an NCP candidate defying the Modi wave that saw BJP win a clear majority for the first time in the general elections.