Senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, who did not land any position after the party revamped its state unit, on Wednesday evening told his supporters that he was also angry like them, but urged them to have patience.
The younger son of former Haryana Chief Minister, the late Bhajan Lal, Bishnoi had lobbied hard for a key role in the state unit, but he did not find any position in the new appointments made by the party on Wednesday.
The Congress on Wednesday revamped its Haryana unit, appointing former legislator and Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan as chief of its state unit to replace Kumari Selja, and naming four working presidents.
Bhan's appointment has the stamp of former Chief Minister Hooda whose stronghold on the party will be further strengthened, since he himself is the CLP leader. The power factor continues to be with Hooda, who will enjoy a free hold within the party now. The Congress appointed Shruti Choudhary, Ram Kishan Gujjar, Jitender Kumar Bhardwaj and Suresh Gupta as working presidents in the state.
In a late evening tweet in Hindi, Bishnoi responded to some of his supporters who said he had been "betrayed", and said, "Friends, I am reading all of your messages on social media". "I am very emotional to see your immense love. I am also very angry like you. But I request everyone that unless I seek an answer from Rahul ji, we do not have to take any step. If you have affection towards me, then have patience," Bishnoi tweeted.
Bishnoi, a prominent non-Jat face, who is Congress MLA from Adampur, had in recent days met senior leaders of the party in Delhi as part of the reorganisation of the state unit, which had been on the cards for the past few weeks.
Over a year ago, Bishnoi had batted for promoting young faces with a "mass base" to strengthen the party. Prior to that Bishnoi had 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".
Bishnoi, a former MP, had in 2007 quit the Congress and floated his own Haryana Janhit Congress outfit when the grand old party had handpicked Hooda in 2005 and made him the chief minister overlooking Bhajan Lal, who was a key contender for the top post then.
Bishnoi, a bete noire of Hooda, had stitched an alliance with the BJP but the tie-up broke just before the 2014 assembly polls when the saffron outfit contested election on its own and formed the government. Later on, Bishnoi had returned to the Congress fold.
(With PTI inputs)
