The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a comfortable but surprising victory in Haryana assembly elections, got a shot in the arm on Wednesday after two Independent MLAs joined the party and another Independent lawmaker, Savitri Jindal announced her support.
Earlier in the day, Independent MLAs Devender Kadyan and Rajesh Joon joined the BJP at Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s home in the presence of state BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli. Kadyan won from Ganaur while Joon defeated his BJP rival in Bahadurgarh.
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Jindal agreed to support the BJP after Pradhan and former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb met her this afternoon, NDTV reported. With her support, the ruling party’s strength in the state assembly rose to 51.
Jindal, who was listed as the richest woman in the country this year by Forbes India, won the elections from Hisar, defeating her nearest rival and Congress candidate Ram Niwas Rana by a margin of 18,941 votes.
Jindal polled 49,231 votes, while the Congress candidate secured 30,290 votes. BJP candidate and outgoing MLA Kamal Gupta was in the third spot with 17,385 votes.
Jindal is the mother of BJP's Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal. Her late husband, O.P. Jindal had represented Hisar earlier.
According to Forbes India, she has a net worth of USD 29.1 billion.
The 74-year-old was part of the Congress government led by Bhupinder Hooda in 2013. She, along with her son Naveen, later parted ways with the grand old party and joined the BJP.
However, Jindal decided to contest as an independent after the saffron party refused her ticket and fielded Kamal Gupta in Hisar.