Congress's Kuldeep Bishnoi resigns as MLA, set to join BJP Thursday
Chandigarh(PTI): Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned from the Haryana Assembly Wednesday, a day before he joins the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Bishnoi submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta here. His resignation will necessitate a bypoll for the Adampur seat in Hisar district, which Bishnoi currently represents.
He said the Congress has deviated from its ideology and is no longer what it was during Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi's time.
Bishnoi, 53, was expelled from all party positions by the Congress soon after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in June.
The four-time MLA and two-time MP had been sulking since before that and had raised a banner of revolt after the party ignored him for the post of its Haryana unit chief during a revamp earlier this year.
For the younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, it will be the second parting with the Congress, nearly six years after he had returned to the fold.
Bishnoi and his father Bhajan Lal had floated the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) in 2007 after the Congress handpicked Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the chief minister's post following the party's thumping victory in 2005.
The HJC later entered into a tie-up with the BJP and two other parties, who jointly contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Haryana.
But the alliance crumbled before the assembly polls.
Around six years ago, Bishnoi returned to the Congress fold. However, despite his return to the Congress, Bishnoi and Hooda never had warm relations.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 100th Saudi Pro League goal
Riyadh (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th Saudi Pro League goal as Al-Nassr beat Al-Shabab 4-2 to move five points clear at the top of the table.
The 41-year-old forward converted a Sadio Mané cross at the near post with 15 minutes remaining to record the 971st goal of his career on Thursday. It was also his 26th league goal of the season.
“Ronaldo is always dangerous going forward and we saw that again today,” Al-Nassr coach Jorge Jesus said.
João Félix, signed from Chelsea in July, scored three goals for the league leaders.
The win took Al-Nassr to 82 points from 32 games, five ahead of Al-Hilal, which has three matches, one more than Nassr, left to play. Al-Hilal meets Al-Kholood on Friday and faces Nassr on Tuesday in what could be a title decider against its Riyadh rival.
“Now we have a derby match against our rival, which is a difficult encounter,” Jesus said.
“We are fully aware of its importance, and we are dealing with it with complete focus as we know that small details could decide the result.”
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, has yet to secure a major trophy in Saudi Arabia since signing with Al-Nassr in December 2022.
