NEW DELHI: After almost a decade since it was formed, Haryana Janhit Congress has formally merged with Congress. The party was formed in 2007 in a breakaway faction and led by former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal. The formal merger announcement was made at Parliament House complex, in the presence of senior Congress leaders, with the meeting presided over by Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi.
“Let bygones be bygones. We are here to merge with Congress to rid the country of communal forces and eradicate BJP from the political map of the country,” Bishnoi said. He had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi prior to the announcement and formally concluded the merger process. Bishnoi said talks had been going on for the past eight months, during which, he spoke to Rahul Gandhi several times.
Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar welcomed Bishnoi and other HJC leaders, saying that it indicated the “rising graph” of the party. “I had never separated from Congress. Differences occur in a family. Congress is in our blood. The differences are now over …Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are our only leaders. We will work for strengthening Congress. I will work as an ordinary worker of the party and I have not set any condition or come back out of greed for any post,” Bishnoi said after the merger.
While the coming together of both parties is expected to boost Congress’s support base among the non-Jats, Bishnoi asserted that he will work for all people of Haryana, including Jats and non-Jats.
Bishnoi had taken over reins of HJC after Bhajan Lal’s death on June 3, 2011. The party contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with BJP. But it fought the last Assembly polls alone and was reduced to just two seats — Bishnoi won from his father’s traditional Adampur seat, while his wife Renuka won from Hansi.
