Congress expels Kuldeep Bishnoi for cross-voting in Haryana Rajya Sabha polls, MLA slams party

A day after losing the Rajya Sabha election in Haryana due to cross-voting, the Congress cracked the whip and expelled its legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi from all party positions. 

The Haryana Congress has alleged that Bishnoi, an MLA from the Adampur constituency in Hisar, did not vote for the party candidate Ajay Maken and cross-voted in favour of Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, who was supported by the ruling BJP-JJP combine.

The Congress had 31 MLA and needed as many votes to win the Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, but one of its legislators cross-voted and another’s vote was cancelled. This led to party’s nominee Ajay Maken not being able to secure the seat. 

“The Congress president has expelled Kuldeep Bishnoi from all his present party positions, including the post of special invitee of the Congress Working Committee, with immediate effect,” a statement from AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.

Bishnoi had not attended any of the party meetings of its legislators and had said that he has voted as per his conscience. 

Reacting to his removal from the party, Bishnoi slammed the party saying that it has “rules for some leaders and exceptions for others”. 

“The Congress president has expelled Kuldeep Bishnoi from all his present party positions, including the post of special invitee of the Congress Working Committee, with immediate effect,” a statement from AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.

Later, Bishnoi took to Twitter to take on the Congress and said, “The Congress also has rules for some leaders and exceptions for others. Rules are applied selectively. Indiscipline has been repeatedly ignored in the past. In my case, I listened to my soul & acted on my morals.” “Had the Congress acted this swiftly and strongly in 2016 and on every other critical opportunity they’ve missed, they wouldn’t have been in such dire straits,” he said in another tweet.

The Adampur MLA also uploaded the Congress’ statement on his expulsion from all party positions on his Twitter handle.

In a jolt to the Congress, the BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar and the saffron party-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma were declared elected for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana.

Bishnoi on Saturday said in a cryptic tweet in Hindi, “I know how to crush a snake’s hood. I do not leave the jungle in fear of snakes.” Bishnoi has been sulking over not being considered for a post during the revamp of the Congress’ Haryana unit.