As BJP looks to acquire its third ‘Lal’ in Haryana, could Congress leader Kiran Choudhry be headed there?

However, the speculation refuses to die. J P Dalal, a Cabinet minister in the Manohar Lal Khattar government, says: “Where there is smoke, there is fire.”

Haryana Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gurjar adds: “We will welcome it if Kiran Choudhry, who is such a big leader and from such a big family, joins the BJP.”

Earlier, Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala had stated: “Kiran Choudhry is the daughter-in-law of former CM Bansi Lal. She is from a renowned family and isn’t anyone’s slave. She is a known leader and has won on her own.”

BJP statements underline the significance of Choudhry joining it: with her, the party would have members from all the three famous political Lal families of Haryana, Bansi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Devi Lal.

Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi recently joined the BJP, with his grandson going on to win the family’s pocketborough Adampur on a BJP ticket. From Devi Lal’s family, the BJP has his grandson Aditya, who heads the Sirsa district unit of the party, son Ranjit Chautala (the Independent backing the BJP and holding the Power portfolio), and great-grandson Dushyant Chautala (the Jannayak Janata Party leader who is a Deputy CM in the Khattar government).

Kiran Choudhry, a four-time MLA from Tosham in Bhiwani district, isn’t alone in feeling sidelined in the Hooda-dominated Haryana Congress unit. Other leaders such as Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala are also seen as having been pushed to the margins to clear way for Hooda’s son and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda, for him to eventually emerge as the CM face of the Congress for the 2024 Haryana Assembly polls.

Earlier, the Hooda camp had openly accused Choudhry apart from Kuldeep Bishnoi, who was then in the Congress, of having caused the defeat of Congress candidate Ajay Maken in the Rajya Sabha elections in June this year.

While Choudhry’s daughter and former Lok Sabha MP Shruti Choudhry is one of four working presidents of the state Congress, her aides say it is a nominal post, with leaders from rival camps not consulted on organisational matters.

Sources close to Choudhry also indicate she has more problems with the functioning of Deepender than Hooda Sr, and that she would have no issues if only given “due respect” in the organisation, given her seniority. Hooda supporters, on the other hand, insist that nobody should have a problem with a senior leader being projected as the CM face, and that Choudhry’s influence is limited to Bhiwani district.

It is for this reason that Choudhry is seen as trying to strengthen her support base in Haryana. She has started an intensive public contact programme called ‘Kiran karyakartaon ke dwar (Kiran at the doors of workers)’, as part of which she claims to have already covered eight of the total 22 districts, touching 40 Assembly constituencies. “I stay for the night too after attending programmes held over tea… I am getting a great response,” Choudhry says.

Choudhry had been an MLA from Delhi before she entered Haryana politics following the death of her husband and Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh, in a helicopter crash in 2005. Surender Singh was then a minister in the Hooda government.