In an unexpected turn of events, senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, who represents Haryana’s Adampur constituency, voted against the party’s official candidate and senior leader Ajay Maken. Bishnoi’s vote caused a major embarrassment for the Congress as BJP-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma won by a narrow margin.
Who is Kuldeep Bishnoi and why did he vote against the party?
Bishnoi is a four-time MLA and currently represents the Adampur Assembly seat in Hisar. He has also been an MP twice. Bishnoi is the son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, who ruled the state for a long time. He has also been in the BJP, when he initially formed his own organization – the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL). He is also the patron of All India Bishnoi Mahasabha.
Bishnoi did not attend the meetings of party legislators organized in support of Maken. Neither did he go to Raipur, where the Congress MLAs were hiding in a resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.
Kuldeep Bishnoi was upset with the party after being denied the post of state president and had said that he would take a decision only after meeting Rahul Gandhi which did not happen. Meanwhile, Bishnoi had tweeted a cryptic message which read: “I have the ability to crush the hood of snakes, don’t leave the jungle for fear of snakes.”
It is clear that Bishnoi was unhappy with the party leadership and hence took an unexpected decision.
The defeat in Haryana has put Bhupinder Singh Hooda in trouble and the party leadership may consider it as he had promised to win the seat for the party.
Kuldeep Bishnoi cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections, which led to the defeat of party candidate Ajay Maken in Haryana. In Haryana, two Congress MLAs cross-voted as the party candidate got only 29 votes out of 31 and Karthikeya Sharma, an independent candidate backed by BJP, defeated him by a narrow margin.
BJP candidate Krishan Lal Panwar and independent candidate Karthikeya Sharma emerged victorious. Earlier, both had written to the Election Commission alleging that Congress MLAs Kiran Choudhary and Bibi Batra showed their ballots after marking unauthorized persons, but the Election Commission rejected their objections and resumed counting. Went.
Officials said out of 90 members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly, 89 cast their votes. Independent MLA Balraj Kundu stayed away from voting.
Party expels Kuldeep Bishnoi
Congress expelled Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi from all party posts. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal wrote in a letter, “The Hon’ble Congress President has expelled Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi from all his existing party posts including the post of Special Invitee in the Congress Working Committee with immediate effect.”