- Saturday, April 27, 2024
The 84-year-old, who is also a former minister in the Indian state of Haryana, took her decision just days after her industrialist soon Naveen Jindal joined the Hindu nationalist party.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a shot in the arm on Thursday (28) when Savitri Jindal, the country’s richest woman, joined it after quitting the opposition Indian National Congress the day before.
The 84-year-old, who is a former minister in the northern state of Haryana, took the step just days after her son and industrialist Naveen Jindal also left the Grand Old Party to join the Hindu nationalist party. Naveen Jindal is a former parliamentarian from Kurukshetra in Haryana.
Savitri Jindal, who owns steel and energy conglomerate Jindal Group along with her family, took over the business after the untimely death of her industrialist-legislator husband OP Jindal. The company’s revenue quadrupled under her leadership and she is currently the 44th richest woman in the world with a net worth of $33.4 billion.
The veteran joined the BJP at an event in Hisar, which she had represented in the Haryana state assembly between 2005 and 2014 after her husband’s demise. The state’s new chief minister, Nayab Singh Saini, and his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar were present on the occasion.
Thanking the BJP after joining it, she said in a post on X in Hindi, “Under the guidance of honourable prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, Dr JP Nadda and the leadership of former chief minister Manohar Lal and chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, I and my entire team were made members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Modi family with respect and honour, for which I am very grateful to the party leadership. Grateful.”
माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी के नेतृत्व, गृहमंत्री श्री अमित शाह जी, डॉ जे.पी. नड्डा जी के मार्गदर्शन और पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री श्री मनोहर लाल जी एवं मुख्यमंत्री श्री नायब सिंह सैनी जी की अगुवाई में मुझे और मेरी पूरी टीम को आदर और सम्मान के साथ भारतीय जनता पार्टी व मोदी… pic.twitter.com/SN9IEaq5am
— Savitri Jindal (@SavitriJindal) March 28, 2024
On her resignation from the Congress, Savitri Jindal said in another social media post that the people of Hisar are her family and she took the decision “on the advice” of her family.
“I represented the people of Hisar for 10 years as an MLA and have served Haryana state selflessly as a minister. The people of Hisar are my family and on the advice of my family, I am resigning from the primary membership of the Congress today,” she said in Hindi, besides thanking her past party for giving her the opportunity. She also tagged the Haryana state unit of the party and its national president Mallikarjun Kharge in her post.
मैंने विधायक के रूप में 10 साल हिसार की जनता का प्रतिनिधित्व किया और मंत्री के रूप में हरियाणा प्रदेश की निस्वार्थ सेवा की है।
हिसार की जनता ही मेरा परिवार है और मैं अपने परिवार की सलाह पर आज कांग्रेस पार्टी की प्राथमिक सदस्यता से इस्तीफा दे रही हूं । कांग्रेस नेतृत्व के समर्थन…
— Savitri Jindal (@SavitriJindal) March 27, 2024
Savitri Jindal lost the state election in 2014 to the BJP’s Komal Gupta, who is now a minister.
On Sunday (24), Naveen Jindal quit the Congress to join the BJP and said he wanted to make contributions towards prime minister Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India).
He was soon named as the BJP’s candidate for the upcoming elections from Kurukshetra, which he represented between 2004 and 2014. He did not contest the 2019
He has been named as the BJP candidate from Kurukshetra.
Notably, Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Steel and Power Limited has been probed by India’s federal probe agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate over alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks and forex violations.
