Journalism of Courage
The fissures persisting between Congress’s Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi and the party’s high command have apparently resulted in the tall non-Jat leader of Haryana getting closer to the rival BJP. His recent meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar raised several eyebrows within the state Congress, particularly after Congress stalwart in Punjab, Sunil Jakhar, parted ways with the party and joined the BJP.
The Congress high command has so far not paid much heed to Bishnoi’s meeting with Khattar, but Bishnoi appears visibly upset with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for not giving him an appointment for a meeting over two weeks ago. Bishnoi, who is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), did not even attend the party’s recent three-day Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Reacting to his meeting with Khattar, Bishnoi’s rival BJP contestant in the Adampur polls in 2019, TikTok star Sonali Phogat, took a dig at the veteran leader and tweeted: “Meri mehnat ka asar toh dekh-e-zamaane, zameen jo khiskai uske pairon tale se, aasra maangne use mere hi dar pe aana pada (Look at the result of my hard work, the person whom I caused to lose ground had to come to my doorstep seeking shelter)”. She tagged the BJP and Kuldeep Bishnoi, too. Bishnoi has not reacted to her tweet.
The younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, Bishnoi is a four-time MLA. He had defeated Phogat by a margin of over 29,471 votes in 2019. Adampur had been a stronghold of Bhajan Lal’s family since 1972 and the BJP had brought in the social-media star in an unsuccessful bid to defeat Bishnoi.
Meanwhile, responding to the media’s queries on the sidelines of a press conference on Friday, Khattar called Bishnoi a “friend”. “He is a friend. He keeps meeting me. I have many more friends in opposition parties,” the chief minister said.
Khattar’s former OSD and BJP leader Jawahar Yadav too tweeted a picture of Bishnoi’s meeting with Khattar and said: “BJP is the only platform that can provide partnership in the mainstream to all those who are deprived… in society. Come, let’s get united and make Haryana even more prosperous”.
Reacting to the meeting between Bishnoi and Khattar on Wednesday, BJP MP from Sirsa, Sunita Duggal, too said that “good signs were emerging.”
Since Bishnoi continues to be “angry” with the Congress high command for not being given any significant position in the revamped Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), speculation has been rife regarding his plans.
Vivek Bansal, in charge of party affairs in Haryana, however, told The Indian Express that he was “in touch with Kudeep Bishnoi” adding that “the things shall be sorted out, soon”. Bansal had also underplayed the Bishnoi-Khattar meeting, calling it a mere interaction between an MLA and the chief minister for discussing issues in the former’s constituency and that “nothing more should be read into it”.
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Haryana Congress president Uday Bhan, however, said, “I cannot comment on the speculations. As far as the meeting with the Chief Minister is concerned, any legislator – even from the opposition – can meet the Chief Minister. I am not aware of what all they both discussed.”
On the possibility of Bishnoi joining the BJP, Bhan said, “Congress is a very big party. If any big leader of a party leaves, it is obvious that some impact is seen; but in the current circumstances, it does not matter whether anybody leaves the party. Because people have made up their mind to oust the BJP this time. As far as Kuldeep Bishnoi is concerned, he is a tall leader. What all he discussed with him (chief minister), it has not come to my notice, yet. Were there some personal reasons, or he had met him (chief minister) to take up some issues of the people of his constituency, it will be clear.”
