OP Chautala passes away: Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala passed away on Friday (December 20) at the age of 89. The veteran Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader breathed his last at his residence in Gurugram.
Chautala became Haryana CM for the first time on December 2, 1989. He held the post for 171 days. He got an opportunity to hold the chief ministerial position for five days on July 12 1990.
He again became CM on March 22, 1991 but remained on the post. He served a full term as chief minister between 2000 and 2005.
The Chautalas are an influential political family. Chaudhary Devi Lal, the father of Om Prakash Chautala became CM twice, first between 1977 and 1979 and then on June 1987 to assume the office for two years and 165 days.
At present, third generation of Chautala clan is in the state politics.
However, the Chautala family stands politically divided at the moment. OP Chautala's son Ajay Singh Chautala formed Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), while Abhay Singh Chautala, OP Chautala's second son, chose to side with his father.
Both, INLD and JJP suffered heavily in recently concluded Haryana Legislative Election 2024. The INLD-BSP combine contested 89 seats but could wing only 2.
While JJP-led coalition could not bag a single seat despite having contested 79.
JJP was an alliance partner of BJP and was part of the government for five years before the elections this year.
At the time of publishing of this story, the INLD had not made any announcement from its official handle on social media handle on X (formerly Twitter).
