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Haryana copter crash |
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Death of two Ministers may change political equations
The death of two Haryana Ministers, O.P. Jindal and Surender Singh, in a helicopter crash on March 31 may change political equations in the state. It is likely to be a big political setback for State Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the two Ministers had given him unstinted support. He will have to think of a new strategy to consolidate the support from both the Jindal and Bansi Lal groups.
During the prolonged tussle with former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal for the Chief Minister’s post, O.P. Jindal, the Chairman of the Jindal Group of Companies, played a crucial role in tilting the scales in Hooda’s favour. So far as the Bansi Lal camp is concerned, it lent Hooda full support once it became clear that he was the party high command’s choice for the top post.
Since both O.P. Jindal and Surender Singh enjoyed the Chief Minister’s trust, they got the plum portfolios of Agriculture and Power. With the two leaders now gone, political equations in the state are set to change. In the Bansi Lal clan, his elder son, R.S. Mahendra is an MLA in Haryana as well as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI. It remains to be seen whether he will be brought back to the forefront in Haryana politics now that his younger brother, Surender Singh is no more. The possibility of Surender Singh’s wife, Kiran Choudhary, a politician in her own right, taking the place of her late husband in Haryana cannot be ruled out.
The ill-fated helicopter in which the two Haryana Ministers lost their lives was one of the two Euro copters bought by India Fly Safe Aviation Limited, a Jindal owned company. The helicopter bought recently had logged only 100 hours of flying. The state Government and the Civil Aviation authorities have ordered an inquiry into the crash which may bring out why the helicopter came down.
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