Chandigarh: Former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader
Om Prakash Chautala died following a cardiac arrest on Friday at Gurugram, party sources said.
Chautala, 89, son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, left behiind three daughters and two sons – Abhay Singh Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala. His wife died five years back.
Born in a village of Sirsa district, Chautala was reportedly a school drop out who entered politics at an early age. Decades later, he cleared his 10th and 12th class exams while being lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
When Devi Lal became the Deputy Prime Minister in the VP Singh government, Chautala took over as the Chief Minister of Haryana for a brief period from December 2, 1989 to May 22, 1990. Later, he became Chief Minister thrice in the 1990s from July 12, 1990 to July 17, 1990, from March 22, 1991 to April 6, 1991, and finally from July 24, 1999 to March 5, 2005.
OP Chautala, along with his son Ajay, was convicted in the junior basic teacher recruitment scam and was sentenced to 10-year-imprisonment. He was released in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Later, in May 2022 he was convicted in a 16-year-old disproportionate assets case and sentenced to two years in jail. Thus, at the age of 87 years, he became the oldest prisoner of Tihar jail.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Shiromani Akali Dal Chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and other politicians expressed grief at the demise of OP Chautala. UNI