Congress expels Kuldeep Bishnoi after Maken loses RS poll

In a statement, the party said that president Sonia Gandhi has expelled Bishnoi from all his present party positions including the post of Special Invitee of the Congress Working Committee with immediate effect.

New Delhi: In a major decision, the Congress high command has expelled Congress’ Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi after infighting in the Haryana unit cost the Rajya Sabha seat to the party on Saturday. In a press statement, the party said that president Sonia Gandhi has expelled Bishnoi from all his present party positions including the post of Special Invitee of the Congress Working Committee with immediate effect.

Earlier, AICC in charge of Haryana Vivek Bansal had briefed the high command over the developments that led to the defeat of party nominee Ajay Maken. Notably, Bishnoi appeared to have cross-voted in favour of independent candidate Kartikey Sharma, who was backed by the ruling BJP-JJP combine and won the crucial Rajya Sabha seat in a tight contest.

Meanwhile, the vote of Tosham Congress MLA Kiran Chaudhary was rejected on technical grounds, said the sources. The party managers are now trying to figure out if the technical mistake happened by chance or was it done deliberately. Usually, it could be a tick at the wrong place on the ballot paper or the use of wrong ink or some other factor, due to which the Returning Officer appointed by the Election Commission can disqualify a vote when a thorough scrutiny is done after the polling.

“Suitable action will be taken against Kiran also,” said an AICC functionary. The cross-voting by Bishnoi came as a shocker for the Congress strategists who were under the impression that their efforts to pacify the miffed MLA over the past week had succeeded and the rebel would vote in favour of party nominee Maken.

Bishnoi’s vote could have saved the day for Maken, who was almost there but lost primarily to infighting in the Haryana Congress. Bishnoi, the son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, has been a prominent leader of the non-Jat segment in Haryana and had expressed his displeasure to the AICC in charge after he was left out in the recent revamp of the state team.

Bishnoi was miffed as he had been assured either the position of state unit chief or an equally important party post. But former chief minister BS Hooda, who is also the Congress Legislature Party leader in Haryana, managed to convince the high command to install his close aide Udai Bhan as the new state unit chief. The seeds for Maken’s defeat had been sown that day, said party insiders.

“I know the art of crushing the hood of a snake, one does not leave the jungle due to fear of snakes,” Bishnoi tweeted in Hindi shortly after Kartikey Sharma was declared elected by the poll panel. Like Kuldeep Bishnoi, Kiran Chaudhary, the daughter-in-law of former chief minister Bansi Lal, too belongs to the anti-Hooda camp in the Haryana Congress.

Both Kuldeep and Kiran did not attend the special camp for the Haryana MLAs that had been arranged by Hooda in Raipur, Chhattisgarh to save the lawmakers from poaching by the BJP. Indicating that Bishnoi might be shifting towards the BJP, Haryana CM ML Khattar said the ruling party’s doors were open for him.