A son grows from giantkiller to deal-maker
Kuldeep Bishnoi struggled with one tie-up but has made another count.
Kuldeep Bishnoi,now 43,was in his younger days better known in the Page 3 circuit than as a political leader. Bhajan Lals son,unlike those of Devi Lal and Bansi Lal,had maintained a distance from state political circles when his father was in power.
Bishnoi has now defeated the ruling Congress candidate as well as his powerful rival from the Indian National Lok Dal in the Hisar Lok Sabha byelection,for which he had tied up with the BJP.
The younger of the two sons of Bhajan Lal,he had not thrown his weight around or interfered in his fathers administration. His elder brother Chander Mohan,who,because of love,converted to Islam and took the name of Chand Mohammad,was chosen as Deputy Chief Minister to placate his father after he was denied the top post following the 2005 elections. Bishnoi,who was by then a Lok Sabha member,preferred to stay away from state politics.
But Bishnoi was already known as a giantkiller. He had contested an election for the first time in 1988,as a Congress candidate. The party was in the Opposition and the ruling party was expected to have the upper hand in the bypoll,but Bishnoi surprised everyone.
His next big killing came in 2004 when he contested his first Lok Sabha election. Bhiwani saw a unique,prestige fight among the sons of three former chief ministers: Bansi Lal,Om Prakash Chautala and Bhajan Lal. It was a Jat-dominated constituency,the home seat of Bansi Lal; the sitting MP was Abhay Chautala,son of Om Prakash and grandson of Devi Lal; the Congress had not won from the seat in the past 15 years. Yet Bishnoi came out trumps.
His election to the Lok Sabha confined him to Delhi and the family stronghold of Hisar. It was only after his father was denied the chief ministers chair that he became really active in state politics. He floated the Haryana Janhit Congress in 2007 and fielded his father from Hisar,from where he emerged the states lone non-Congress winner. Bishnoi himself,however,refrained from contesting the Lok Sabha elections. In 2009,he decided to test himself in state politics and fielded candidates from almost all of Haryanas Assembly constituencies.
His party could muster just six of 90 seats,including his own,but it still put him in a position to bargain with the Congress,which was a little shy of an absolute majority. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda entered into negotiations but no agreement could be reached for several days as Bishnoi wanted a larger share. Then,in a coup,the Congress took away all his five MLAs who formed another party and merged it with the Congress,isolating Bishnoi. A defection case is currently pending in court.
Evidently what Bishnoi had learnt from his father,known for his political acumen,was how to get into a deal. What he had failed to learn was how to close it.
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