Cong’s Kuldeep Bishnoi resigns from Haryana Assembly, to join BJP today

During the last six years, Kuldeep tried his best to get out of the shadow of veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, but miserably failed to secure any substantial rank within the party’s state unit.

After being dumped by the party high command, Kuldeep decided to get into BJP and took four months to eventually resign on Wednesday and announcing that he would join BJP, Thursday. In the process he met CM Manohar Lal Khattar several times and also met top BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda.

However, Kuldeep’s exit from Congress may not be that big a loss for the main opposition party in Haryana as Bishnoi claims it would be. It seems that BJP may be able to utilise Kuldeep in certain manner to change political equations in it’s favour with an aim to make a comeback in 2024 polls.

BJP, according to sources, is likely to use Kuldeep not only in Haryana as a non-Jat leader against Congress but also in Rajasthan to woo the Bishnoi community. BJP insiders say that since it was likely that BJP and JJP would contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls separately, it would also help the party tackle its ally Dushyant Chautala, who too is considered strong in several parts of Hisar and Bhiwani.

Bishnoi, 53, who had been two-time MP (Lok Sabha) from Bhiwani and Hisar, and four-time MLA from Adampur, is the younger son of former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal.

Although he enjoys a significant following in Hisar and claims it to be his stronghold, the family has been heavily dependent on Bhajan Lal’s legacy, which, however, didn’t yield much favourable results for Kuldeep or his family members in the last few polls.

His wife Renuka Bishnoi had been a two-time MLA, first elected from Adampur in 2011 by winning the bypoll after Kuldeep was elected as MP and vacated the seat and then in 2014 from Hansi.

Considered a betenoire of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kuldeep had desperately tried to secure the position of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president. He failed as Hooda managed to get his loyalist Udai Bhan appointed on the key post.

While, it is not clear yet what role he would get after joining the BJP, Congress insiders said that “Bishnoi would be as good or bad in BJP as he was in Congress”.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi, who finished a distant third as Congress nominee from Hisar in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, also quit the party on Wednesday. Venting out his ire on Twitter, Bhavya said, “For over five decades, my family served the Indian National Congress with diligence and integrity. One could argue that we are what we are because of the Congress as it empowered my family by placing its faith in us over the years. But we have also given our all to the party. The Congress leadership must understand that what it is today is because of the people, the party’s national and regional leaders, volunteers, and workers and so it should stay humble and responsive to their needs and aspirations”.

Lashing out at the Congress, Bhavya added, “Deadwood are indiscriminately entrusted with key responsibilities and decision-making power – to the detriment of the party. Arrogance and ego are a politician’s greatest enemies, but the central leadership has embraced them like a mother embraces her child”.

Soon after resigning, Kuldeep also indicated that either he or his son Bhavya would re-contest from Adampur in the bypoll. He even challenged the Congress and HPCC president Udai Bhan to dare contest against him or his son from Adampur.

On the challenge, Bhan said, “What is his stature? He failed to even secure his six MLAs who all left him. All those who were considered close to Bhajan Lal deserted him due to his behaviour. He stays abroad for six months in an year. He is not a man connected with the ground. He has never faced struggle or hardships. He is always inaccessible as his phone is always switched off. Due to his behaviour, he has reduced his father’s legacy”.

While former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had been dismissing Kuldeep’s rebellion as “not a big deal” for the Congress, party’s Haryana affairs incharge, Vivek Bansal, who too is lately getting sidelined by HPCC, had said that “Kuldeep quitting Congress would definitely be a loss to the party.

Kuldeep had been maintaining that he was “not hungry for any posts”, but was upset with the party’s ideologies and inaccessibility of the party high command.

A BJP leader said that Kuldeep’s joining shows how BJP’s ideologies are embraced by leaders of even opposition parties and they are joining it. “Congress has failed to keep its tall leaders intact and is losing all of them one after another due to intense factionalism and infighting. Bishnoi is a veteran politician and is quite popular among the people of Haryana his joining will help the BJP.”