Bishnoi announces HJC merger with Congress

Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi on Monday announced the merger of his outfit with the Congress.

Bishnoi, the son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi here and announced that the merger would take place on Tuesday.

Bhajan Lal had walked out of the Congress in 2007, after being sidelined in state politics as the party chose Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the chief minister of Haryana in 2005.

After Bhajan Lal’s death in 2011, Bishnoi joined hands with the BJP and won the Hisar Parliamentary seat, represented by his father, in the by election.  In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bishnoi lost Hisar to INLD’s Dushyant Chautala.

However, the HJC parted ways with the BJP ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections following differences over seat-sharing. Bishnoi had termed the BJP as a “serial betrayer”.

The Assembly polls proved to be disastrous for the HJC as only Bishnoi and his wife Renuka could win their respective seats leaving the outfit with the option to merge with either the BJP or the Congress to remain relevant in state politics.