Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned from the Haryana Assembly Wednesday, a day before he joins the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Bishnoi submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta. His resignation will necessitate a bypoll from Adampur seat in Hisar district, which Bishnoi currently represents. Bishnoi, 53, was expelled from all party positions by the Congress soon after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in June.
Soon after putting in his papers, Bishnoi said "BS Hooda had challenged me to resign, and I accepted his challenge. Now, I challenge him to contest elections and win from the Adampur constituency."
The four-time MLA and two-time MP had been sulking since before that and had raised a banner of revolt after the party ignored him for the post of its Haryana unit chief during a revamp earlier this year. For the younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, it will be the second parting with the Congress, nearly six years after he had returned to the fold.
Bishnoi held a meeting with his supporters at Adampur Tuesday evening and and sought suggestions from them on joining the BJP, which was supported by all by raising their hands. After this, he told them that the time has come to end the long exile. He said on the demand of the people of Adampur constituency, he will go to Chandigarh on August 3 and resign as MLA and on August 4, he will join the BJP along with his supporters.
Bishnoi said the way the people of Adampur have showered their blessings on his family, no other constituency can match it. There will be no let-up in the development of the Adampur area and it will once again become a shining example of development, he said. In a tweet in Hindi on Tuesday evening, Bishnoi wrote, "Before a new political journey, I reached out to my loved ones and discussed in detail, and as always got a lot of love and support, for which I will always be grateful to the people of Adampur."
In recent weeks, Bishnoi had held meetings with top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Over a week ago, Bishnoi had met Nadda and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Delhi and discussed political issues with them. On July 10, Bishnoi had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda in Delhi. After meeting the BJP leaders, Bishnoi had heaped praise on them.
Bishnoi and his father Bhajan Lal had floated the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) in 2007 after the Congress handpicked Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the chief minister's post following the party's thumping victory in the assembly polls. The HJC later entered into a tie-up with the BJP and two other parties, who jointly contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Haryana. They were supposed to contest the assembly polls together as well but the alliance crumbled.
Around six years ago, Bishnoi returned to the Congress fold. However, despite his return to the Congress, Bishnoi and Hooda never had warm relations. The 53-year-old legislator was expelled by the Congress from all party positions last month. Bishnoi, a four-time MLA and two-time MP, has been sulking ever since the Congress ignored him for the post of its Haryana unit chief during a revamp earlier this year. The party appointed Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan as its Haryana unit chief. After cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls in June, Bishnoi had posted a cryptic tweet saying, "I know how to crush a snake's hood. The Congress, which is the main opposition party in Haryana, was assured of one Rajya Sabha seat by virtue of the number of MLAs it has in the 90-member assembly. However, Congress candidate Ajay Maken failed to secure the berth after Bishnoi cross-voted while the vote of an MLA was declared invalid. BJP's Krishan Lal Panwar and the saffron party-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma were elected to the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana.
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