Fighting as independent on public demand: Savitri Jindal

Chandigarh: Jindal Group Chairperson Emeritus Savitri Jindal, who has entered the poll fray in Haryana as an Independent after she failed to get a BJP ticket, on Wednesday said she is contesting because of the wishes of the people of Hisar and if elected, she will strongly raise their voice in the assembly.

“People of Hisar are my family and it is they who wanted me to contest,” 74-year-old Jindal, a former Haryana minister, told PTI over phone.

She said, if elected, she will strongly raise the voice of her constituents in the Vidhan Sabha. When issues are forcefully raised, the government has to act, Jindal, the wife of noted industrialist late O P Jindal, said.

The mother of BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal is contesting against senior BJP leader Kamal Gupta, who is seeking re-election from Hisar, and 19 other candidates. About her entering the fray as an Independent, she said it is not her election, but of the people of Hisar. Asked about local issues which pertain to her constituency, she said roads are broken at some places and there is problem of water-logging during heavy rains, there is also drinking water problem at few places, sewerage system also needs to be set right. I feel people should get all the basic facilities, said Jindal, the former Minister for Urban Local Bodies.

After filing her nomination last week, Jindal had said, “I have pledged to serve Hisar for its development and transformation. The people of Hisar are my family and Om Prakash Jindal ji had established my relationship with this family.”

“The Jindal family has always served Hisar. I am fully dedicated to living up to the expectations of the people and maintaining their trust,” she had said. Forbes India has listed Jindal as the richest woman in the country this year having a net worth of USD 29.1 billion. She was elected as an MLA from the Hisar seat twice.

She represented Hisar in the Haryana Assembly for the first time in 2005 as a Congress MLA. She was re-elected from the seat in 2009 and was made a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government. She quit the

Congress in March when her son Naveen Jindal also left the party and later joined the BJP. Polling for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana will be held on October 5 and the results will be declared on October 8.