Kuldeep Bishnoi: The man who could play kingmaker

CHANDIGARH: His party may have got pulverised in Haryana, but the man is standing tall. Former Congress CM Bhajan Lal's son, Kuldeep Bishnoi, who heads the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), knows he holds not one or two but six aces.
True, the Congress can form the government with the support of six Independents, but such a regime would be fragile. A singleshot injection of six MLAs ��� that Bishnoi can provide ��� is crucial for Congress if it wants longevity on its side.Bishnoi is likely to extend conditional support, and therein lies the rub: He may ask too high a price.
While there's speculation that he may demand that his father, Bhajan Lal, be accommodated as a Central minister, he is quite likely to seek a change of CM as well, with the post of Deputy CM for himself. That's bound to make the Hooda camp see red.
Of course, Bishnoi can ask for Dy CM in an OP Chautala-led regime as well. But the big question is whether, if he supports a Jat leader, he loses his own support-base. On the other hand, without Bishnoi throwing his weight behind Chautala, the latter will have no choice but to sit in the opposition.
And there's another irony, still: HJC's voteshare has come down from 10% to 8% in these elections. Interestingly, HJC got its most severe setback in Bhupender Singh Hooda's districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat. Bishnoi's candidates failed to even save their security deposits. But the party has managed decent votes in south Haryana, Hisar, Panipat, Jind and Sirsa ��� all of which were INLD strongholds.