Congress is in a self-destruction mode: Former Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi

New Delhi: After departing from the Congress party in all capacity, Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party here in Delhi. The former Congress MLA from Haryana resigned from the assembly a day before, creating a suspense as to his deteriorating relations with the party.

Bishnoi and his wife Renuka were inducted into the BJP at the party's headquarter in presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, among other party leaders. Hailing Narendra Modi as the "best Indian Prime Minister", Bishnoi also lauded Khattar for maintaining a "spotless" reputation despite serving as the chief minister for more than eight years.

Last month, Bishnoi had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda. In June, Bishnoi and another Congress MLA were expelled from the party for voting for the BJP in the Haryana Rajya Sabha elections, which ultimately led to Congress's Ajay Maken losing the seat.

Upon his expulsion from all party posts, Bishnoi had tweeted, "Congress also has rules for some leaders and exceptions for others. Rules are applied selectively. Indiscipline has been repeatedly ignored in the past. In my case, I listened to my soul and acted on my morals."

On Thursday, after joining BJP in New Delhi, Bishnoi told the media, "I would like to suggest to them (Congress party) that the Congress of Indira ji & Rajiv ji, their ideology is something from which the party has completely gone astray. If they've to face the BJP once again, they will have to revive that ideology."

The former Congress leader also added, "I wanted to join BJP for a long time now, still I wanted to give them one more chance as I had been a Congress man for a long time. But what can one do if Congress is in a self-destruction mode?"

While Bishnoi has said that extended his full support and commitment to BJP in exchange of respect for his workers and supporters, Haryana CM Khattar promised to give due respect and positions to Bishnoi's supporters in the BJP as per their seniority.