Congress expelled
its Haryana legislative assembly member Kuldeep Bishnoi on Saturday after the
MLA voted for BJP’s candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections. The decision came
as Congress candidate Ajay Maken lost to Kartikeya Sharma, an independent
candidate supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janata
Party (JJP) by two-thirds of a vote.

He was dropped
from the party after Congress’ Haryana unit alleged that Bishnoi had cross-voted.
Bishnoi’s vote was significant as the Congress has 31 MLAs in the state
assembly and needed as many votes to get Maken to the Rajya Sabha. However,
Bishnoi cross-voted and another MLA’s vote was disqualified, resulting in BJP’s
victory.

Ajay Maken,
Congress’ Rajya Sabha candidate from Haryana, was nearly sure to win from the
seat. Bishnoi’s critical vote turned the tide resulting in the grand-old-party
losing more space in India’s legislative bodies. Consequently, he was expelled.

“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 KC Venugopal said.

Bishnoi’s Twitter
handle was under Congress’ scanner since prior to June 10 when the Rajya Sabha
elections took place. On Saturday, responding to his ouster, Bishnoi tweeted: “Had
@incIndia acted this softly and strongly in 2016 & on every other critical
opportunity they’ve missed, they wouldn’t be in such dire straits.”

“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…2/2.” Party sources told NDTV
that Bishnoi had been sulking for a while over being side-lined in course of
the revamp of Congress’ state unit.

A significant Jat
face in Haryana and son of former state chief minister Bhajan Lal, Congress
ousting Bishnoi might come in handy for the BJP. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar
Lal Khattar said Bishnoi voted listening to his inner conscience and that “the
party (BJP) will welcome him if he joins it.”