Two decades after he quit the Congress over the issue of the foreign origin of then party president Sonia Gandhi, veteran leader Tariq Anwar on Saturday returned to the grand old party amid speculation on the role that he will be given in the organisation. There is speculation also on how Anwar will benefit the Congress in his home state, Bihar.
Anwar, who quit the Nationalist Congress Party around a month back, met Congress president Rahul Gandhi along with his supporters on Saturday morning, after which his return to the Congress was announced. Also present on the occasion were AICC general secretary in-charge of Bihar Shaktisinh Gohil as well as state PCC chief Madan Mohan Jha, indicating the significance of Anwar's re-entry on the fortunes of the Congress in the politically crucial eastern state.
Anwar, 67, who has represented the Katihar constituency in Bihar in the Lok Sabha, is expected to help the Congress improve its presence in the state by at least a few seats. Also, the Congress, which is struggling to enhance its political stock in Bihar—where it has been relegated to the sidelines—is hoping to reconstruct its Brahmin-Muslim support base with Anwar's induction into the party fold. Jha, a Brahmin, was recently appointed PCC chief.
Meanwhile, there is also speculation that the Congress would not want to restrict the veteran leader—who held important positions in the party before he quit along with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma over Sonia's foreign origin issue—to Bihar.
There is speculation Anwar may be projected as a prominent Muslim face of the Congress nationally by according him a significant role at the national level. The possibility of Anwar being appointed as an AICC general secretary is being talked about.
According to party sources, the Congress leadership had been in touch with Anwar over the past several months to facilitate his return. Pawar's reported comments in an interview that were perceived as giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit in the Rafale deal provided Anwar with an exit route.
Anwar's return to the Congress, it is learnt, is evidence of the party's strategy to enhance the number of seats that it will contest as part of an alliance. A senior Congress leader explained that Anwar would anyway have been part of the opposition alliance in Bihar, but now he will be there as a member of the principal opposition party.
