Indian National Lok Dal president and five-time Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala died after suffering a cardiac arrest on Friday. He was 89.
Chautala, who was former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s son, suffered a cardiac arrest at his house in Gurugram. He was immediately rushed to a hospital but could not be saved, a party spokesperson told PTI. He breathed his last at around 12 noon in Medanta hospital. He is survived by two sons and three daughters. His wife Sneh Lata had passed away over five years ago.
Om Prakash Chautala, who hailed from a prominent political family in Haryana and was the face of a major regional party, had been struggling with age-related health issues in recent times.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini were among the many leaders who expressed their condolences following Chautala’s death.
In his message on X, Modi said, “He (Chautala) was active in the state politics for many years and strove constantly to advance the work of Devi Lal.” Saini described the passing of the INLD supremo as an immense loss, stating, “My humble tribute to him. He served the state and society throughout his life. This is an irreparable loss for the politics of the country and Haryana state.”
Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda fondly remembered his association with Chautala. “When Chautala was the chief minister, I was the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana assembly. Chautala served the people of the state. There are many good memories with him. He was like my elder brother,” Hooda said.
Congress leaders Randeep Singh Hooda and Kumari Seja also expressed their sorrow over Chautala’s passing.
Born on January 1, 1935, Om Prakash Chautala was the eldest of the five children of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal. Chautala left formal education after primary school but made headlines in 2013 when, while imprisoned in Tihar Jail in connection with a teacher recruitment scam, he completed his class 10 and class 12 exams at the age of 82.
In 2013, Chautala was sentenced in connection with the illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers in 2000. He was released in 2021 after serving his sentence. Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala, and 53 others, including IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, were convicted and sentenced in the case.
Chautala’s younger son, Abhay Singh Chautala, is a senior leader of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), while his elder son, Ajay Singh Chautala, who served as an MP, heads the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which was formed following a family split in December 2018.
Abhay’s son Arjun is a Haryana MLA, while Ajay’s sons Dushyant and Digvijay are leaders in the JJP. Dushyant Chautala has also served as Haryana’s Deputy Chief Minister.
Chautala’s INLD had once been an ally of the BJP, but the party has been out of power in Haryana since 2005.