Gurugram: Haryana BJP leader Kuldeep Bishnoi has given his own party an ultimatum: Get Rajya Sabha MP Rekha Sharma to apologise for saying that his late father and former state chief minister Bhajan Lal won elections through “badmaashi” (dishonest means), or face the consequences.
Bishnoi, in a release, also expressed his anger with Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli for not deploying the prefix “Chaudhary” or respectful suffix “Ji” after Bhajan Lal’s name and wants his apology as well. He took further exception to Badoli’s reported comments that “it is not necessary that the son be like the father”.
The BJP’s response, threatening Bishnoi with a show-cause notice, has apparently served to only harden his stance.
A very public exchange of words and warnings has ensued since Sharma’s comments late last month, with Bishnoi declaring from Texas, where he and his wife are staying with their younger son Chaitanya Bishnoi for the summer, that “paper notices don’t scare me”.
Sharma’s remarks were made at a campaign event in Panchkula, where she alleged that the Congress era in Haryana was defined by “badmaashi”, naming Bhajan Lal and his elder son Chander Mohan. Kuldeep Bishnoi was also in the Congress till 2022.
Chander Mohan had defeated BJP nominee Shyam Lal Bansal in the 1996 assembly polls for the Kalka assembly seat, and Sharma was campaigning for the latter, who is now her party’s candidate for the Panchkula mayoral polls.
Bishnoi, whose entire political identity is built around his father’s legacy, posted a video on X calling Sharma a “nauseekhiya” (novice) who had been given more than she deserved and couldn’t handle it with dignity. “Those who get more than their station rarely manage to digest it,” he said. “Rekha is no different.”
Chander Mohan, Congress MLA from Panchkula, has served a legal notice to Rekha Sharma. Across 16 districts—from Ambala to Gurugram, Karnal to Nuh—Bishnoi’s supporters have filed police complaints. At a gathering at a Bishnoi temple in Hisar late April, a decision was taken to widen the agitation if no action followed.
On Monday, Chander Mohan went to Panchkula courts and filed a civil and criminal defamation case against the Rajya Sabha MP.
Badoli steps in, makes things worse
The BJP state president attempted damage control by acknowledging Sharma made a “word selection error” but refused to ask her to apologise, instead announcing a notice to Bishnoi for inflaming the matter through social media.
He added that Bhajan Lal had been CM for many years, before offering the “father-son” comparison that Bishnoi seized upon immediately.
Bishnoi’s response was pointed and personal. He reminded the party that it was he who had “taught BJP to walk in Haryana”, helped form the government twice in three attempts, and delivered 22 of 27 seats close to Haryana in Rajasthan.
“The son you are challenging today,” he said, “has the strength to bring you from the sky to the ground.”
He demanded that the party issue notice to Sharma first and Badoli second, and said he was a “purana babbar sher” (old lion) who could be approached, but not touched.
Speaking to ThePrint Monday, a confidant of Bishnoi claimed that the BJP never fulfilled the promises it had made to Bishnoi when he quit the Congress in 2022 after voting for BJP-backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma in the Rajya Sabha polls.
“The party promised a cabinet berth for (Bishnoi’s son) Bhavya and a Rajya Sabha seat for Kuldeep Bishnoi. However, none of the two promises was kept. And now, its leaders have started insulting Chaudhary Bhajan Lal Ji, who is a revered figure for not just the Bishnoi family but followers of the late CM spread across Haryana and Rajasthan,” he added.
Options for Bishnoi
Bishnoi has limited options outside the BJP, according to Jyoti Mishra, a political analyst and an assistant professor of political science at Amity University, Mohali.
“Returning to the Congress means re-entering the orbit of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the man who ensured in 2022 that Udai Bhan became state Congress chief over Bishnoi, the slight that set him adrift in the first place,” Mishra told ThePrint Monday.
“The INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) and JJP (Jannayak Janata Party) are barely functioning political forces at present. And Bishnoi’s own Haryana Janhit Congress, formed in 2007 after the Congress denied Bhajan Lal the chief ministership, was dissolved into the Congress in 2016. There is no organisation left to rebuild around,” she added.
She said Bishnoi seems to be reassuring his supporters that he has not gone quiet after the insult to his late father. “But with elections four years away, and no viable alternative, the BJP also knows his room to manoeuvre is limited,” Mishra said.
She, however, added that Kumari Selja’s Congress faction, with which the Bishnoi family has historically had warmer ties and where his elder brother Chander Mohan is already aligned, can be an option, but that can at best be a contingency plan.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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