Bishnoi possibly in touch with BJP

Sushil Manav

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 27

Senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi’s absence from the political scene in the thick of electioneering for the upcoming parliamentary elections has become a curious case, because on the one hand he is skipping important party events but is seen with his family rooting for the Chennai Super King team dressed in the Indian Premier League team’s T-shirt.

Speculation is rife about his political moves with sources suggesting that he is in touch with the BJP, though only last week Bishnoi had denied any such action through a tweet from his official Twitter handle.

Sources said the BJP would be keen to take in Bishnoi since both have the same non-Jat vote bank, but “negotiations” between the two have hit a roadblock because of the number of Assembly seats he is seeking from the BJP and his insistence on fielding his son Bhavya in the parliamentary polls while the ruling party would like him to contest.

Pictures of a beaming Bishnoi, his wife and Hansi MLA Renuka Bishnoi and elder son Bhavya, all in CSK T-shirts, went viral on Tuesday on the social media when the team was playing its match with Delhi Capitals team.

Bishnoi’s younger son Chaitanya Bishnoi, a cricketer, is a member of the 23-member CSK squad led by MS Dhoni.

Bishnoi, who won the Hisar parliamentary seat in a bypoll in October 2011, but lost to Dushyant Chautala in 2014, has been missing from the current political activity.

Bishnoi has also not participated in the ongoing bus yatra of the senior Congress leaders. He is not even accessible to the media on phone. His continuous absence from the political scene is giving rise to speculations that he might switch over to the BJP.