Bhajan Lal, two other Haryana MLAs suspended from Congress

New Delhi, Jan 14 (UNI) Cracking the whip on the dissidents, the Congress today suspended its veteran leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal for ''anti-party'' activities with immediate effect.

Along with Mr Bhajan Lal, two other Haryana MLAs -- Dharam Pal Singh Mallik and Rakesh Kamboj -- were also suspended.

In a terse one-para statement, Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi, MP, said: ''Shri Bhajan Lal, Shri Dharam Pal Singh Mallik and Shri Rakesh Kamboj, MLAs, have been suspended from the Indian National Congress for anti-party activities with immediate effect.'' Mr Bhajan Lal, 77, and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi, MP, had turned dissidents after Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda became Chief Minister of Haryana after the Congress' decisive victory in the state assembly elections some three years ago.

The father-son duo later floated a new political outfit -- Haryana Janhit Party, with rising sun as its symbol -- and also severed all their ties with the Congress.

The suspension marks the capping of three years of strained ties between Mr Bhajan Lal and the Congress.

While launching their party at Rohtak, the home turf of Mr Hooda, Mr Bishnoi, also suspended from the Congress, had launched a blistering diatribe against Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

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