Former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Om Prakash Chautala passed away on Friday afternoon at his residence in Gurugram. He was 89.
Chautala, who served as Haryana’s Chief Minister a record five times, was the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.
According to family sources, Chautala will be cremated on Saturday afternoon at Teja Khera in Sirsa district. His body will be kept there from 8 am to 2 pm to allow people to pay their final respects.
Chautala is survived by his two sons, Ajay Singh Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala, along with three daughters.
Abhay Chautala, who previously served as the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, is the father of Arjun Chautala, a current legislator from the Rania constituency in Haryana. Ajay Chautala’s son, Dushyant Chautala, served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana in the BJP-JJP alliance government led by Manohar Lal Khattar.
INLD spokesperson Rakesh Sihag told The Indian Express that the former chief minister had been in good health earlier in the day. “However, a cardiac arrest took his life after he experienced hiccups just before his passing,” Sihag said.
Chautala had been convicted in 2013 in a corruption case related to recruitment irregularities and sentenced to 10 years in prison. His elder son, Ajay Chautala, was also among the 55 individuals convicted in the case.
This conviction dealt a major blow to his political career, as he was barred from contesting elections following the judgment. Chautala was released from Tihar Jail in July 2021.
Since his release, Chautala focused on forming a third front in the country after severing ties with the National Democratic Alliance. As part of this initiative, he met with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2021. In September 2022, Chautala held a rally in Fatehabad, which saw the participation of prominent leaders, including Nitish Kumar, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, RJD leader and then Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, and Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant.
