Senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is learnt to be miffed with the party after he failed to get a position in the revamped Haryana unit, met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, triggering speculation about his next move.
Mr. Bishnoi, the 53-year-old son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, said he held a detailed discussion with CM Khattar on political issues. The meeting took place in Gurugram on May 18 evening, an aide of the Congress leader said.
Taking to Twitter, Mr. Bishnoi said there was a detailed positive discussion with the Chief Minister when he met him regarding some issues pertaining to the Congress leader's Adampur constituency and some other matters.
"I am grateful to him that he gave instructions in front of me, after accepting my point of view regarding the restoration of Adampur Gram Panchayat," Mr. Bishnoi tweeted in Hindi. Notably, after the new appointments in the State unit, Mr. Bishnoi had in April told his supporters that he was also angry like them, but urged them to have patience.
The Congress last month appointed former legislator and Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan as Chief of its State unit, replacing Kumari Selja, and named four working presidents.
Mr. Bishnoi's meeting with CM Khattar has sparked speculation about his next move as the Congress is facing an exodus of leaders amid a decline in its electoral fortunes. It received a jolt in neighbouring Punjab on May 19 when its former State unit Chief Sunil Jakhar joined the BJP.
The Congress' Gujarat unit working President Hardik Patel resigned from the party a day earlier. The Congress MLA from Adampur and a prominent non-Jat face, Mr. Bishnoi had batted for promoting young faces with a “mass base” to strengthen the party.
Mr. Bishnoi had earlier described Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit from the party as a big blow and said there are many devoted leaders across the country who feel “alienated, wasted and discontented”.
Mr. Bishnoi, who is also a former MP, had in 2007 quit the Congress and floated his own Haryana Janhit Congress outfit when the grand old party had handpicked Bhupinder Singh Hooda in 2005 and made him the Chief Minister overlooking Mr. Bhajan Lal, who was a key contender for the top post then.
Mr. Bishnoi, a bete noire of Mr. Hooda, had stitched an alliance with the BJP, but parted ways just before the 2014 Assembly polls when the saffron outfit contested the election on its own and formed the government. Later, Mr. Bishnoi returned to the Congress fold.
