Kuldeep Bishnoi's party decides to merge with Congress

New Delhi: Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi on Monday met Rahul Gandhi and said his party Haryana Janhit Congress will merge with the Congress to "uproot" BJP from the state.

The merger is expected to give a boost to the Congress among non-Jats.

AICC general secretary in-charge for the state Shakeel Ahmed said that the merger will be announced jointly by leaders of the two parties in the AICC on April 28.

"Not only among OBCs but among all sections, the merger will help consolidate our base," he said.

Insisting that the plan to merge his party with the Congress is "completely non-conditional", Bishnoi, who had ealier allied with the BJP, expressed confidence that the coming together of HJC and Congress will mark the beginning of BJP's fall.

"Met Honourable Rahul Gandhi ji and reposed absolute faith & trust in his able leadership," he said on Twitter.

He said that leaders, workers and people of Haryana wanted the two parties to merge because they are "fed up" with the BJP and want it out of power. Bishnoi said Rahul has given his "complete blessings" for the merger.

"We have put no condition. Our decision to merge with Congress is completely unconditional. We are joining to strenghten the hands of Rahul Gandhi and defeat the BJP there," he said.

HJC was floated by Bishnoi's father and former CM Bhajan Lal in 2007 after he broke away from the Congress.

Bhajan Lal was a tall leader in Congress and was quite popular among non-Jats. He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1979 to 1986 and then again from 1991 to 1996.

In 2005, Congress preferred Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, sidelining Lal.

After Lal's death on June 3, 2011, Bishnoi took over the reins of the party and his party later forged an alliance with the BJP for the 2014 parliamentary elections.

In the last assembly polls, the party fought separately from the BJP and was reduced to just two seats--Kuldeep Bishnoi won from his his father's traditional Adampur seat of Hisar while his wife, Renuka Bishnoi won from Hansi. Both of them met Rahul today.