CHANDIGARH: Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, who was expelled by the Congress from all party positions for cross-voting in the June Rajya Sabha polls, resigned from the state Assembly on Wednesday, a day before he joins the ruling BJP.
The 53-year-old Bishnoi submitted his resignation to Speaker Gian Chand Gupta here, who has accepted it.
This necessitates a bypoll for the Adampur seat in Hisar district, which Bishnoi currently represents.
The MLA's son Bhavya Bishnoi, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Hisar, has also quit the Congress.
In recent weeks, Kuldeep Bishnoi had held meetings with top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief J P Nadda, heaped praises on them and had given enough indications that he was leaving the Congress.
"I am joining BJP as an ordinary worker and I hope that all my supporters, be they from Haryana, Rajasthan or parts of Punjab, will be given full respect," said Bishnoi, who also quit the Congress formally "taking into account his own feelings and those of supporters".
Immediately after his resignation, Bishnoi challenged Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda to contest from Adampur.
"Hooda had challenged me that Kuldeep Bishnoi should first resign (before joining the BJP). I challenge him, he had been a chief minister for 10 years, let him contest from Adampur against me or my son," he said.
Reacting to Bishnoi's challenge, Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan said, "The man who lives abroad for six months and remains inaccessible is talking of throwing a challenge."
"On one hand, Bishnoi is saying he is keen that his son contest from Adampur and on the other, he is throwing a challenge for Hoodaji. The Congress party's ordinary worker is enough to defeat him," said Bhan.
Bishnoi was expelled from all party positions by the Congress soon after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in June.
The four-time MLA and two-time MP had been sulking ever since the party ignored him for the post of its Haryana unit chief during a revamp earlier this year.
For the younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, it will be the second parting with the Congress, nearly six years after he had returned to the party fold.
Bishnoi said, "I feel the Congress is no longer what it used to be during Indiraji and Rajiv Gandhiji's time. The Congress has deviated from its ideology. It has been reduced to a party of 'chatukars' (sycophants). Many of those who are running the party are those who either have not fought elections or haven't won for decades," Bishnoi said.
"All decisions taken by them are proving wrong across the entire country," he said.
When told that Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan has said Bishnoi is joining the BJP because he was under the Enforcement Directorate scanner, Bishnoi said, "So far, I have not got any notice from the ED, nor have they ever summoned me."
"Three years ago, there were some searches by the Income Tax Department and all cases are nearly settled," Bishnoi said, adding he has always done politics of honesty and principles.
"My image has been clean and will remain so in future also," said Bishnoi, who was accompanied by his wife Renuka, a former legislator, while submitting his resignation to the Speaker at the Vidhan Sabha Bhawan.
Replying to a question, Bishnoi said that BJP, which he will join in Delhi in presence of the Haryana chief minister, will decide who will contest the bypoll from Adampur but he and people want that his son Bhavya Bishnoi contest from there.
He, however, said they will accept the party's decision.
Asked when he had floated his own outfit HJC even then he had entered into a tie-up with the BJP before the alliance broke, Bishnoi said the tie-up was going smooth for three years but sometimes even in families issues crop up but that does not mean you become enemies.
Bishnoi also took a dig at the Haryana Congress' recently held "Chintan Shivir" in Panchkula, saying "If you saw the photos and videos of the events, worry on their faces was clear. It is just the beginning, see what happens up ahead".
About the BJP, Bishnoi said it keeps the nation's interests in mind.
"And I don't think it will be wrong to say that Narendra Modi is one of the best prime ministers. In Haryana, I am impressed with the working style of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the way he is committed to take Haryana to new heights," he said.
To a question, he said he has a list of seven former MLAs who want to join the BJP.
Bishnoi and his father Bhajan Lal had floated the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) in 2007 after the Congress handpicked Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the chief minister's post following the party's thumping victory in the assembly polls.
The HJC later entered into a tie-up with the BJP and two other parties, who jointly contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Haryana.
They were supposed to contest the assembly polls together as well but the alliance crumbled.