Kuldeep Bishnoi's entry into BJP may hurt prospects of Congress in Hisar

“Let bygones be bygones. We are here to get the country rid of communal forces and eradicate the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the political map.” This was what Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Haryana chief minister (CM) Bhajan Lal, said when he merged his Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) into the Indian National Congress (INC) in April 2016. Five years later, on August 4, Bishnoi joined the very party he wanted to eradicate. Two days before he formally joined the BJP, he tweeted: “Every bird is injured here, but the one who could fly again is alive.”  

The move came months after Bishnoi had a series of meetings with the BJP leadership — party president J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar. According to sources, cross-voting by Bishnoi in favour of a BJP-backed independent candidate during the Rajya Sabha polls in July — which resulted in his expulsion from designated posts in the Congress — was to prove his commitment to the BJP. 

“Cross-voting was Bishnoi’s repentance for breaking the alliance with the BJP before the 2014 Assembly polls. It also helped the BJP deliver a humiliating defeat to senior Congress leader Ajay Makan, who was the latter's Rajya Sabha candidate,” said a senior BJP leader.  

An unfulfilled wish 

Bishnoi, 53, is a four-time member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), two-term member of Parliament (MP), and son of Haryana’s longest-serving CM, but unlike his father Bhajan Lal, he has never been a minister. Lal headed several state and Union portfolios, including agriculture and environment, and forest during Rajiv Gandhi's administration. 

When it comes to influence, Bishnoi's outreach is limited to the Bishnoi community, spread over three Assembly seats in the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency. Though the community is small in Haryana, it has a significant presence in 25-30 Assembly seats in Rajasthan. Bishnoi has also not been able to unite non-Jats behind him in the state as his father did in the 1970s. 

However, political scientists believe that Bishnoi would help mobilise his community in support of the BJP in Haryana, though this may not have any major impact in Rajasthan. “Rajasthan has its own Bishnoi leadership, and there Bishnoi can help the BJP only on two-three seats,” said Kushal Pal, state coordinator, Lokniti, and head of the department of political science at Dyal Singh College, Karnal.

Chaudhary Birender Singh, former Steel and Panchayati Raj minister in Modi 1.0 government, said: “Kuldeep is not considered a leader of non-Jats in the state like his father was. He can go to Rajasthan but cannot influence voters.” 

Singh further said: “Bhajan Lal successfully declared himself a leader of non-Jats and became chief minister but the BJP borrowed his strategy and formed the government in Haryana in 2014. What does Kuldeep have to offer?” 

Singh’s son Brijendra Singh defeated Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi from Hisar in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. 

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda echoed Singh’s opinion while Speaking with Business Standard. “Neither the Congress will lose anything nor will the BJP gain anything,” he said.

History repeats
 

According to experts, Bishnoi had been sulking since the Congress ignored him for the post of its Haryana unit chief during a revamp earlier this year. The Congress leadership chose Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan instead. 

Bishnoi followed his father's footsteps who also left the Congress in 2005 and floated the HJC (in 2007) after the Congress decided to make Hooda the CM, instead of Lal, following a resounding victory in the Assembly election. 

Lal was in the Congress from 1967 to 2005. In August 2009, the HJC joined hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party. The alliance was, however, cancelled by the BSP before the Vidhan Sabha election. In the 2009 Assembly polls, the HJC won six seats, including Adampur. However, five of its MLAs joined the Hooda-led government.

The HJC later entered into a tie-up with the BJP, and contested two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It lost both seats; Bishnoi lost in Hisar to Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala’s grandson Dushyant Chautala (present deputy CM)

Before the election, Bishnoi was seen as the future chief ministerial face of the alliance, but his defeat severely dented his prospects. After the BJP won seven of the eight seats it contested, Bishnoi was sidelined by the national party. 

Bishnoi snapped ties with the BJP before the 2014 Assembly polls and formed an alliance with the Jan Chetna Party (JCP), led by Congress rebel Venod Sharma in August 2014. However, both parties failed to make a mark in the Vidhan Sabha polls. Bishnoi’s HJC could barely secure victory for him and his wife Renuka Bishnoi; the BJP increased its tally from 4 to 43 seats. 

After his resignation from the Adampur seat, Bishnoi challenged Congress leader Hooda to contest from Adampur. “Hooda had challenged me that I should first resign (before joining the BJP). I challenge him, let him contest from Adampur against me or my son,” Bishnoi said.

On Bishnoi’s challenge, Hooda said, “I do not want to react to these petty things.”

On the reason for Bishnoi joining the BJP, a political expert said: “The Rs 200-crore foreign assets case could also be the reason for him joining the party.” In July 2019, the Income Tax department raided the properties of Bishnoi and his family allegedly unearthing foreign assets worth more than Rs 200 crore. 

Political experts believe that taking Bishnoi into its fold is the BJP's strategic move to avoid a repeat of the 2019 Assembly election when the party fell short of a majority mark. Pal said: “The BJP needs Bishnoi as a panna pramukh (in charge of a page each of the voter's list).” 

“Though the BJP will not get much from Bishnoi joining the party, it will definitely hurt the prospects of the Congress, which does not have its own leadership in Hisar,” he said.