Bhajan Lal's son suspended from Congress

New Delhi, Mar 7 (UNI) The Congress today suspended Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, Lok Sabha MP and son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, from the primary membership of the party for indulging in anti-party activities in the past year.

AICC Spokesman Abishek Manu Singhvi told mediapersons that Mr Bishnoi had been informed of the action against him through a letter today.

The decision, which comes eight months after he was served a show cause notice for anti-party activities, was taken by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the basis of a recommendation to this effect by the Party's Disciplinary Action Committee headed by Defence Minister A K Antony.

A meeting of the Disciplinary Committee was held last night at the AICC headquarters with Mr Antony, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Party Treasurer Motilal Vohra attending it.

Mr Bishnoi represents Bhiwani constituency in the Lok Sabha.

"You have been indulging in anti-party activities for the last one year by publicly criticising party policies and its Government in the State and also speaking against the party President publicly," the letter says.

''All your allegations are bound to be baseless and without substance. In this connection you may remember that you were issued a notice seeking explanation on June 12, 2006 which you replied on June 17.

''Despite your reply not being satisfactory, the party did not take disciplinary action against you (earlier) with the hope that you will correct yourself and behave properly. Looking into your utterances, it appears you don't want to remain disciplined. Hence the Disciplinary Action Committee has decided to suspend you from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect,'' the letter says.

Dr Singhvi said the party had given a long rope to Mr Bishnoi before it finally decided to suspend him from the primary membership.

Mr Bishnoi had been on the warpath ever since Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda was made Chief Minister of Haryana in 2005.

He openly criticised Mr Hooda and his government on several occasions ever since.

He was issued a show cause notice by the Congress Party in June last year in the wake of his action in releasing to the press a letter he had written to Ms Gandhi in which he charged Mr Hooda with corruption and alleged that he had been showing no regard to party workers.

Mr Bishnoi had also come out openly against the Haryana government's policy of Special Economic Zones (SEZ).

What had apparently provoked the party leadership to take action against Mr Bishnoi was his recent utterances against Ms Gandhi addressing a rally on the occasion of completion of two years of Hooda government in office.

The meeting was not attended by both Mr Bishnoi and his father Bhajan Lal.

Mr Bishnoi told reporters in Parliament House that the decision of the Congress to suspend him was unfortunate.

UNI