‘Richest woman’ enters Hisar fray as ‘BJP rebel’ candidate

After filing her nomination, she said that she had pledged to serve Hisar for its development and transformation.
‘Richest woman’ enters Hisar fray as ‘BJP rebel’ candidate
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CHANDIGARH: Kurukshetra BJP MP Naveen Jindal’s mother Savitri Jindal, 74, is the richest woman in the country this year with a net worth of $29.1 billion. She was the aspirant for the Haryana assembly elections. However, she filed her nomination from Hisar as an Independent candidate on Thursday.

On the last day of filing papers, Savitri Jindal, the chairperson of steel and power conglomerate, OP Jindal Group, and wife of industrialist late OP Jindal, entered the fray against minister and MLA from Hisar, Kamal Gupta.

After filing her nomination, she said that she had pledged to serve Hisar for its development and transformation. “The people of Hisar are my family and it was Om Prakash Jindal who established my relationship with this family. I am fully dedicated to living up to the expectations of the people and maintaining their trust,” she said.

Jindal Group founder Om Prakash Jindal thrice won from Hisar (1991, 2000 and 2005). He was also a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government when he died in a helicopter crash in 2005. Savitri joined politics thereafter and was elected as an MLA from the Hisar assembly seat twice.

She won the bypoll from Hisar in 2005 and was made a minister in the Hooda government and was reelected in 2009. She was defeated by Kamal Gupta in Hisar in the 2014 polls when she contested as a Congress candidate. She quit Congress in March this year when her son Naveen also left the party and later joined BJP.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, Savitri campaigned for her son in Kurukshetra and also campaigned for the BJP candidate from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat Ranjit Singh Chautala.

When asked if her contesting the seat against the ruling party would not amount to rebellion, Savitri said, “It won’t be considered so. I had only campaigned for my son (in the Lok Sabah polls). I have not taken BJP membership.”

Polling for the 90-member Haryana assembly is due on October 5 and the results will be out on October 8.

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