A day after Sonia Gandhi told partymen to look within, rise above “individual ambitions” and “work unitedly”, the Congress cracked the whip and suspended Kuldeep Bishnoi, MP from Bhiwani and son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, for criticising the party chief.

Bishnoi, who had been carrying on a campaign against Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress for “anti-party activities”. A statement from A K Antony, chairperson of the party Disciplinary Action Committee, announced the suspension.

Bishnoi reacted by saying it only showed that Gandhi was “no longer with the aam aadmi (common man)”. He had recently criticised the Congress chief for attending a rally in Sirsa, organised to mark two years of the Hooda government’s rule.

“What wrong have I done by requesting Sonia Gandhi to visit Panipat, the site of the Samjhauta Express attack, or to go to Gurgaon where (Honda) workers were lathicharged or visit Gohana where houses of

Dalits were burnt,” Bishnoi told reporters after he was suspended. “We are the real Congress,” he claimed, adding that his father Bhajan Lal, a veteran of Haryana politics, was with him. He evaded questions on whether his brother and Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chandra Mohan too was on his side. “You better ask him,” he said.

While striking at the son, the Congress leadership has spared the father, the actual force behind Bishnoi. Leading a revolt by 20 Haryana MLAs two years ago, Bhajan Lal had boycotted Hooda’s election as state legislature party leader after the Congress was swept to power. Bhajan Lal hasn’t given up his rebellious posture but has been more guarded than Bishnoi in his public utterances. There’s buzz that father and son want to float a regional party. Asked about Bhajan Lal, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi evaded a direct reply. “The Congress functions in its own way,” he said.