With Kiran Choudhry’s entry, several kin of Haryana’s 3 famous ‘Lals’ now in BJP fold

Chandigarh, Jun 19 (PTI) With Kiran Choudhry and her daughter Shruti Choudhry joining the saffron party, several kin of Haryana’s three famous ‘Lals’ are now in the BJP fold.

Kiran Choudhry is daughter-in-law of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal and a sitting MLA from Tosham in Bhiwani district.

Shruti Choudhry, a former MP, was the working president of the Haryana unit of the Congress.

Both of them joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday after resigning from the primary membership of the Congress on Tuesday.

Ever since Haryana was carved out as a separate state way back in 1966, its politics has revolved for about three decades around three famous ‘Lals’ –Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal.

Former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s son Ranjit Singh Chautala, who joined the BJP about three months ago, is also the brother of INLD chief and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Ranjit Singh Chautala (78) resigned as Independent MLA in March giving up his membership from the Rania segment in Sirsa district and joined the BJP, which nominated him from the Hisar seat in the recently held Lok Sabha polls. He, however, lost the seat to the Congress.

About two years ago, former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi had quit the Congress and joined the BJP. Kuldeep’s son Bhavya, who had also switched over from the Congress to the BJP, is currently an MLA from Adampur segment in Hisar district.

Hours before Kiran Choudhry and Shruti Choudhry joined the BJP, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini told reporters that former chief minister Bansi Lal had done the work of taking Haryana ahead on the developmental path.

Lashing out at the Congress, Saini said, “It was unfortunate that the Congress sidelined such a family (Bansi Lal’s). Like at national level in the Congress party, only one family matters in Haryana too and one family has its way.

“Bhupinder Singh Hooda is trying to promote his son while sacrificing other leaders,” the chief minister said.

Kiran Choudhry had on Tuesday alleged that the party’s state unit was being run as a “personal fiefdom”, in an apparent reference to former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Notably, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls in Haryana’s Mahendragarh last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised Bansi Lal and said, “He (Lal) was committed to the development of Bhiwani-Mahendragarh”.

Modi had then recalled the period when the BJP and Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party were in alliance in Haryana in the 1990s.

“Bansi Lal ji used to love me so much…,” Modi had then said.

“I enjoyed a close bond with Chaudhary Bansi Lal. He used to remain awake till late at night. Sometimes, our meetings used to start after 1 am and continue till morning. He had a lot of experiences to share,” Modi had then said while campaigning for BJP’s Dharambir Singh, who was seeking re-election from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh.