In a significant political development, Savitri Jindal, India’s richest woman and an Independent MLA, has pledged her support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana. This move, announced after a meeting with Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, strengthens the BJP’s position in the Haryana Assembly, where it has won 48 seats—just two above the majority mark of 46.
Along with Jindal, two other Independent MLAs, Devender Kadyan and Rajesh Joon, have also joined the BJP, bringing the party’s total number of seats in the 90-member assembly to 51. This boost is crucial for the BJP, as the Congress party, which secured 37 seats, has refused to acknowledge the results, alleging irregularities in the counting process.
Savitri Jindal, who previously served in Bhupinder Hooda’s government in 2013, contested the recent elections as an Independent candidate in her stronghold of Hisar, defeating the BJP’s Kamal Gupta. She is the mother of Naveen Jindal, the BJP MP from Kurukshetra, and has had a longstanding political legacy, as her late husband, industrialist OP Jindal, was the previous representative for Hisar.
After parting ways with the Congress in March, following her son’s switch to the BJP, Jindal initially chose to run as an Independent due to the BJP’s decision to field Gupta. However, her alignment with the BJP now reinforces the party’s position in the state.
The recent developments have heightened political tensions in Haryana, where the Congress remains vocal in its claims of electoral misconduct. With the BJP now solidifying its support base, the dynamics in the Haryana Assembly are set for interesting shifts in the coming days.
Sources By Agencies
