New Delhi, October 27: Putting rest to all speculations and nearly a month after quitting the Nationalist Congress Party, senior politician Tariq Anwar Saturday joined the Congress after meeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Anwar met Gandhi along with the former's supporters at Congress President's Tughlaq Lane residence and was welcomed into the party personally by Rahul Gandhi.

Tariq Anwar, who is among the founding members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was miffed with NCP President Sharad Pawar after Pawar's "defence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Anwar not just announced that he is leaving the party, but also gave up his Lok Sabha membership on September 28 following his party chief reportedly giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal, as reported by news media.

Anwar, before forming the NCP along with Sharad Pawar and late P A Sangma, was former president of Congress's Bihar unit and had opposed Sonia Gandhi taking over as AICC president on the "grounds of her foreign origin." He is back to Congress again.

On October 17, Manvendra Singh, son of BJP stalwart leader Jaswant Singh, and an ex-MLA himself, joined the Congress party in the presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2018 assembly elections in Rajasthan. Expressing confidence in his supporters, Manvendra Singh said on the occasion that "Rahul Gandhi welcomed me into the Party. I have confidence that my supporters will continue to support me."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2018 12:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).