NEW DELHI: The Congress has suffered a significant setback before the Haryana Assembly Elections scheduled for October 2024. Four-time Congress MLA Kiran Chaudhary and her daughter Shruti Chaudhary have bid farewell to the country’s oldest party.
Kiran Chaudhary, a four-time MLA from Tosham, Bhiwani, is the daughter-in-law of Haryana’s powerful leader and former Chief Minister Bansi Lal. Her late husband, Surendra Singh, served as Haryana’s Agriculture Minister for a brief period (1982-83). This development marks a considerable blow to the Indian National Congress as it gears up for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana.
In 2019, Congress’ prominent Dalit community leader Ashok Tanwar left the party due to growing dissatisfaction with the leadership and internal politics, joining the BJP earlier this year.
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For the first time in Haryana’s history, the children and daughters-in-law of Haryana’s three ‘Lals’—Bansi Lal, Devi Lal, and Bhajan Lal—have left Congress to join the BJP. This strategic move strengthens the BJP’s position significantly.
Approximately two years ago, former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi, along with his wife Renuka Bishnoi, quit the Congress to join the BJP. Devi Lal’s son, Ranjit Chautala, joined the BJP in 2024. Now, Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law, Kiran Chaudhary, and his granddaughter, Shruti Chaudhary, have also joined the BJP.
Kiran Chaudhary joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday morning in the presence of former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and current Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Her move to the BJP is expected to benefit the party significantly, given her stature as a four-time MLA.
In her resignation letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Kiran Chaudhary wrote, “It is most unfortunate that the Congress party in Haryana is being run as a personal fiefdom, leaving no space for sincere voices like mine, who have been stifled, humiliated, and conspired against in a most well-orchestrated and systematic manner, thus, significantly hampering my diligent efforts to represent our people and uphold the values I have always stood for.”
After joining the BJP, Kiran Chaudhary stated, “I was a very dedicated Congress worker and had devoted my life to the Congress party through my hard work.” However, she noted issues in recent years that led to her decision to leave.
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Shruti Chaudhary, one of the four working presidents of the state Congress unit, had a contentious relationship with Bhupendra Singh Hooda and Kiran Chaudhary. She was part of the SRK (Shailja, Randeep, Kiran) group.
In the recent Lok Sabha election, the Congress gave a ticket to Rao Dan Singh instead of Shruti Chaudhary, who was a former MP from Bhiwani Mahendergarh constituency from 2009 to 2014 but lost in 2014 and 2019 to BJP’s Dharamveer Singh. Kiran was unhappy with the party’s high-command decision and had hoped for a ticket for her daughter.