Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned from his post in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, 3 August, and is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, 4 August.
Bishnoi, who was expelled from the Congress after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in June, submitted his resignation to the Haryana Assembly speaker on Wednesday.
"Bhupinder Singh Hooda had challenged me to resign, and I accepted his challenge. Now, I challenge him to contest elections and win from Adampur constituency," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"August 4, 2022 10:10 am," Bishnoi had written in a cryptic tweet on Tuesday, presumably about the date and time of his joining the BJP. "Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to build something better this time…" he had tweeted.
Bishnoi has held meetings with top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the past few weeks.
Bishnoi also held a rally for his supporters on Tuesday in Adampur constituency, from where he was elected as an MLA.
"Today, before a new political journey, I reached out to my loved ones and spoke in detail, and as always, got a lot of love and support, for which I will always be grateful to the people of Adampur. I will never let the honour and respect of Adampur be diminished," he tweeted in Hindi.
The four-time MLA and two-time MP has been unhappy with the Congress since he was passed over for the post of the party's Haryana unit chief during a reshuffle earlier this year.
"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…" the Haryana politician had said after he was removed from all party positions on 11 June.
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