Former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala passes away

Om Prakash Chautala, the former Chief Minister of Haryana and leader of the INLD, has passed away. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly seven times and held the position of Chief Minister on five occasions.

News Desk
Hariyana– Om Prakash Chautala, the former chief minister of Haryana and leader of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), died on Friday afternoon at his home in Gurugram. He was 89 years old.

Chautala served as the chief minister of Haryana for an unprecedented five terms and was the son of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal. Family representatives announced that Chautala’s cremation will take place at Teja Khera in Sirsa district on Saturday afternoon, with his body available for public viewing from 8 am to 2 pm for those wishing to pay their respects.

Chautala is survived by his two sons, Ajay Singh Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala, along with three daughters.

Abhay previously served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly. His son, Arjun Chautala, is presently a legislator representing the Rania constituency in Haryana. Dushyant Chautala, the son of Ajay Chautala, held the position of Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana under the BJP-JJP alliance government led by Manohar Lal Khattar.

Rakesh Sihag, spokesperson for the INLD, informed a news reporter that the former chief minister was in good health earlier in the day. However, he tragically suffered a cardiac arrest, experiencing hiccups just before his passing, Sihag noted.

Chautala was found guilty in a corruption case linked to recruitment in 2013 and received a 10-year prison sentence. His elder son, Ajay Chautala, was one of 55 individuals convicted in the same case.

This ruling significantly impacted his political career, preventing him from running in elections following the verdict. Chautala was released from Tihar jail in July 2021.

Since his release, he has dedicated himself to establishing a third political front in the country after severing his connections with the National Democratic Alliance. In pursuit of this goal, he engaged with key political figures, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2021. During a rally organized by Chautala in Fatehabad in September 2022, notable attendees included Nitish Kumar, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, RJD leader and then Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, and Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant.