Ahead of joining BJP, Cong MLA Bishnoi resigns from Assembly

Chandigarh, Aug 3 A day ahead of switching loyalty to the BJP, Congress legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi on Wednesday resigned from the Haryana Assembly.

He submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta here.

Praising the working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bishnoi told the media that he wanted his son Bhavya to contest the elections. "But the BJP has to take the decision on it."

He also challenged two-time Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda to contest the Adampur bypoll, the seat Bishnoi vacated.

Multi-millionaire and four-time legislator Bishnoi, 53, who was expelled from all party positions by the Congress after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in June, is the son of three-time Chief Minister Bhajan Lal whose family has never lost any Assembly election from Adampur in five decades.

Bishnoi, whose hotel in a prime business space of Gurugram worth Rs 150 crore has been attached by the Income Tax department considering it as a 'benami' asset, was the MLA from Adampur, while his wife Renuka Bishnoi represented the Hansi seat from 2014 to 2019.

The couple had won the 2014 Assembly election as the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) candidates. The party was later merged with the Congress in 2016.

Their son, Bhavya Bishnoi, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Hisar parliamentary seat as a Congress candidate.