Just before the Haryana assembly elections, rebelling against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the country’s richest woman Savitri Jindal filed her nomination as an independent. 74-year-old Savitri Jindal has filed her nomination from Hisar assembly seat of Haryana. In fact, BJP has fielded its sitting MLA and minister Kamal Gupta from Hisar for the elections to be held on October 5. Meanwhile, the country’s richest woman and chairperson of OP Jindal Group Savitri Jindal filed her nomination as an independent candidate from the same constituency on Thursday. Savitri Jindal is a well-known industrialist of the country, and her son Naveen Jindal is currently a BJP MP from Kurukshetra.
Just before the Lok Sabha elections this year, on March 24, Naveen Jindal quit the Congress and joined the BJP. The BJP immediately fielded him from the Kurukshetra seat, from which he had been an MP twice earlier. A few days later, Savitri Jindal also joined the BJP in Hisar in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Did you never join BJP?
Savitri Jindal was considered as the BJP candidate from Hisar. But the party did not give her a ticket. After being ignored from the party ticket, Savitri Jindal decided to contest the elections independently. Recently, she has clarified that she never officially joined the BJP. However, on March 28, 2024, Savitri Jindal herself had talked about joining the BJP in a post on X.
While sharing her photos, Savitri Jindal had written, “Under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah Ji, Dr. J.P. Nadda Ji’s guidance and former Chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal Ji and Chief Minister Shri Nayab Singh Saini Ji, I and my entire team were made a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi family with respect and honour, for which I am very grateful to the party leadership. I also thank the party officials and workers of Haryana and Hisar, who gave us so much respect. Together, we are committed to make Modi Ji’s dream of “Developed India” come true.”
Jindal family dominates Hisar
According to the Indian Express report, in recent times, former Congress MLA and minister Savitri Jindal had indicated that she would contest the upcoming elections from Hisar, where her family has been dominant for several decades. After not getting a ticket from the BJP, she decided to contest as an independent candidate and filed her nomination on the last day. Savitri’s husband and Jindal Group founder Om Prakash Jindal had won from Hisar in three assembly elections (1991, 2000 and 2005). He was also a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government when he died in a helicopter crash in 2005.
Savitri joined politics after her husband’s death. In 2005, she won the by-election from Hisar and became a minister in the Hooda government. She again won the Hisar seat in the 2009 election and again became a minister in the Hooda government in 2013. However, she lost the election from Hisar in 2014 and did not contest the 2019 election. In the recently held Lok Sabha election, Savitri campaigned for her son Naveen in Kurukshetra. She also campaigned for BJP candidate Ranjit Singh Chautala from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. Her supporters were expecting a party ticket for her from the Hisar assembly seat in the upcoming elections, but the BJP preferred to field Kamal Gupta, a two-time MLA from the seat and a minister in the Saini cabinet, again.
I have to follow his wish- Savitri Jindal
This angered Savitri’s supporters, who had gathered at Jindal House in Hisar last Thursday to field her in the election. After meeting them, Savitri said, “Hisar, which is my family, is saying that I have to contest the election. I have to follow their wish. I cannot say ‘no’. Respecting their sentiments, I will definitely contest the election.” She also said: “I have been among the people for the last 20 years to serve them. I should get a chance to serve the people. Anyway, this is my last election. I want to complete the unfinished work of the people of Hisar.”