‘After 40 years, hurts to move on’: Kiran Choudhry

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, June 19

Five-time Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry joined the BJP amid mixed feelings of relief and pain. Talking to The Tribune today, she said, “I am feeling comfortable in the BJP.” She said commitment to protect the legacy of her late father-in-law and former CM Bansi Lal and husband Surender Singh was among the factors.

Training guns at Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, she said, “They think that they will finish off Bansi Lal’s legacy. That’s what the entire game plan was. I will not allow that. Leadership takes a long time to be established,” she said.

She accused Hooda of engineering the “ink scandal” during the 2019 Rajya Sabha election, when votes of 14 MLAs were rejected. The ink of the pen used to sign the ballot paper was changed, leading to the cancellation of votes of Congress MLAs and election of BJP-backed Independent Subhash Chandra.

“I was blamed for cross-voting when Ajay Makhan lost in the Rajya Sabha election in 2022. Both Maken and I were victims of a conspiracy. I wrote to the high command about it,” she said, claiming that Hooda’s sole aim was to propel his son Deepender’s political journey.

Reacting to allegations of sabotage by party candidate Rao Dan Singh, she remarked, “Hooda had got him nominated, promising that he would ensure his victory. But he lost from his own constituency and booth.”

She had been in the Congress for 40 years. “I worked very hard. Naturally, it hurts when you move on,” she said.

Reacting to her allegations, Hooda had only one thing to say — the Congress was strong in Haryana.