Bishnoi-CM meet sealed cross-voting deal

Hisar, June 14

The second meeting of rebel Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi with CM Manohar Lal Khattar within a month had sealed the deal in favour of BJP-supported Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma in the Rajya Sabha poll in Haryana recently.

RS ELECTION: Tilting the scales

Kuldeep conciliated with one of his traditional rivals — Chautalas — to hurt another rival — ex-CM Bhupinder Hooda — in political terms. That tilted the scales towards Kartikeya in the RS poll. Political expert

The BJP sensed an opportunity in Kuldeep’s resentment with the party high command following Hooda confidant Udai Bhan’s appointment as state party chief in April.

When Kuldeep met the CM on May 19 in Gurugram, they reportedly held political discussions. Earlier too, Kuldeep had appreciated the CM for ensuring the arrest of a person who had issued an extortion threat to him in February.

Sources said when the name of Kartikeya cropped up in the ruling party circles, the BJP-JJP and other Independent MLAs, including Power Minister Ranjit Chautala (who is the only Independent MLA to get a ministerial berth), got active to “poach on” one or two MLAs from the Congress.

Ranjit had brought Karikeya from Delhi to Chandigarh via chartered plane for filing the nomination papers.

Sources revealed that Ranjit, who had once contested against Kuldeep’s father Bhajan Lal in Adampur segment, emerged as a key negotiator between Kuldeep and Khattar. Kuldeep reposed faith in Ranjit as a negotiator.

“After telephonic discussion, Kuldeep met Ranjit to chalk out the modalities for a final discussion with the CM. He later met the CM at a hotel in Chandigarh away from media glare. He finally agreed to vote for Kartikeya and also to join the BJP at a later stage after a meeting with the senior BJP leadership in Delhi,” said a senior functionary of the government associated with the developments.

“Kuldeep had expressed his displeasure over Udai Bhan’s appointment. He raised a banner of revolt against the decision and sought a meeting with Rahul Gandhi,” said a political expert, adding it’s interesting to note that the families of arch-rivals Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal came together for an Independent niminee in RS poll.