Down and out, Kuldeep Bishnoi’s supporters hoped to see the BJP reward him with a Rajya Sabha ticket for the vacant Haryana seat — a sureshot winner for the party — for which polls were to be held December 20. But the BJP instead picked former National Commission for Women chief Rekha Sharma, who won unoppsed, dealing yet another setback to the leader of the Bhajan Lal clan.
As the son of three-time Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, Bishnoi belongs to one of Haryana’s most prominent political dynasties. But lately, he has been struggling with one setback after another. Earlier, Bishnoi’s son Bhavya, who had become the state’s youngest MLA after winning a November 2022 bypoll, lost in the October Assembly elections to the Congress’s Chander Prakash by 1,268 votes in Adampur, a seat which the family had retained for the past 57 years.
Then, earlier this month, Bishnoi resigned as patron of the All India Bishnoi Mahasabha after 12 years of holding the post, following accusations by its president Devendra Budiaon that Nalwa MLA Pandhir Panihar, seen as close to Bishnoi, had mistreated him. . The Mahasabha is a social organisation which represents the influential community.
In his resignation, Bishnoi nominated Swami Ramanand as the patron of the Mahasabha and formed a 29-member committee for elections to top posts in the organisation, but these measures were rejected.
Come the election to the vacant Rajya Sabha seat, Bishnoi is believed to have approached the party, meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other top leaders. However, the party went with Rekha Sharma.
Calling “wins and losses a part of politics”, a senior BJP leader played down the setback to Bishnoi, saying: “He is a senior party leader with a vast experience in politics. He has responsibilities towards strengthening the party and he is fulfilling them. He will bounce back.”
Bishnoi told The Indian Express that he always takes things in his stride. “I have never been greedy for posts. I have earlier been offered the post of Union minister as well as the Deputy CM. But I have maintained that Kuldeep Bishnoi is not for sale,” he claimed.
He never craved to lead the community organisation either, Bishnoi said. “I served as patron of the Mahasabha for over 12 years after the responsibility was bestowed on me following my father’s death. I kept the community united and took it to new heights. Despite the lack of political powers, I relentlessly worked for the welfare of my community. I resigned due to personal reasons as I realised that devoting much of my time to the responsibility was not possible as I am striving to excel politically.”
However, the political fortunes of Bishnoi may not see an upswing any time soon. Having been in and out of the Congress, he fell out with it again in June 2022 over alleged cross-voting in favour of Kartikeya Sharma, an Independent candidate backed by the BJP for a Haryana Rajya Sabha seat, helping Sharma win. After the Congress stripped Bishnoi of all party posts, he resigned in August 2022 and joined the BJP, necessitating a bypoll, which Bhavya won to become the youngest MLA in the state.
A two-time MP (once each from Hisar and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh) and a four-time MLA from Adampur, Bishnoi has completed only two full terms as legislator – as MP of Bhiwani-Mahendragarh between 2024 and 2009, and as an MLA between 2014 and 2019.
As a Congress member, he was part of its highest decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), once, but walked out for the first time in 2007 due to differences with former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and floated the Haryana Janhit Congress.
In 2009, the Haryana Janhit Congress contested the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and managed to win only a single seat, with Bhajan Lal winning from Hisar. In the Assembly polls later that year, the party fielded candidates in 87 of the state’s 90 seats, with only six, including Bishnoi, winning. Later though, five of its MLAs defected to the Congress.
Till 2016, Bishnoi continued to support the BJP-led NDA, before joining hands with Venod Sharma’s Haryana Jan Chetna Party. However, he again failed to make a mark, and finally returned to the Congress fold in April 2016, merging his Haryana Janhit Congress with it.
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