Scindia's exit big blow; many devoted leaders feel alienated, wasted: Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi

CHANDIGARH: Senior Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi on Tuesday described Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit from the party a big blow and said there are many devoted leaders across the country who feel "alienated, wasted and discontented".

Stressing that Scindia was a central pillar of the party, Bishnoi, who is younger son of the former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, felt that the Congress leadership should have done more to convince him to stay.

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He also said the party needs to empower young leaders who have the capacity to work hard and resonate with the masses.

"Scindia's departure is a big blow to the Congress. He was a central pillar in the party and the leadership should've done more to convince him to stay," the 51-year-old Adampur MLA said in a tweet.

"Like him, there are many other devoted INC leaders across the country who feel alienated, wasted & discontented," Bishnoi added.

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Bishnoi, who in the past was a known detractor of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in another tweet said, "India's oldest party needs to empower young leaders who have the capacity to work hard and resonate with the masses."

Bishnoi, who is a four-time legislator and has remained the Lok Sabha MP twice, had floated his own outfit the Haryana Janhit Congress over 10 years ago when the Congress high command picked Hooda over Bhajan Lal for the chief minister's post in 2005.

At that time, Hooda was an MP from Rohtak.

Bishnoi and his father had severed ties with the Congress and floated their own outfit.

His party had also entered into an alliance with the BJP but the arrangement did not work and their pact broke weeks before the 2104 assembly polls.

In 2016, Bishnoi returned to the Congress.

He merged his party with the Congress.

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At present, Hooda is the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana assembly.

Last year, Bishnoi had termed the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 a good decision.

Earlier on Tuesday, in a massive setback for the Congress, its prominent youth leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party and appeared to join the BJP amid a rebellion in Madhya Pradesh by his supporters, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

A shell-shocked Congress, in a largely symbolic move of no consequence, expelled Scindia, the party general secretary and scion of the erstwhile Gwalior royal family, on charges of anti-party activities.