India’s richest woman and former Haryana minister Savitri Jindal quits Congress, joins BJP

Lok Sabha elections 2024: India's richest woman and former Haryana minister Savitri Jindal on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls 2024. She had quit the Congress party on Wednesday night. 

The 84-year-old's move came days after her son and industrialist Naveen Jindal left the grand old party to join the saffron outfit.

She joined the ruling BJP at an event in Haryana's Hisar in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar.

While announcing her decision to quit the Congress last night, Savitri in a social media post said the people of Hisar are her family and she is resigning from the party “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".

Savitri was a minister in the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.

In 2014, she lost to BJP's Kamal Gupta from Hisar. Gupta is currently a minister in the Nayab Singh Saini government.

Earlier this year, the Forbes list of the 10 wealthiest women in India named Savitri Jindal as the richest woman in the country. 

According to the Forbes list, Savitri, the widow of industrialist and former minister OP Jindal, has a net worth of $29.1 billion.

Her son, Naveen Jindal had quit the Congress on Sunday. He represented the Kurukshetra constituency in Lok Sabha from 2004-14 as a Congress MP. 

While joining the BJP, Naveen said he wants to contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Viksit Bharat' agenda.

He has been named as the BJP candidate from Kurukshetra.

Notably, Naveen's company, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a case pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand coal block.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also investigating the money laundering charges against his company in connection with the allocation of the coal block.

In April 2022, the ED had conducted searches at multiple premises associated with JSPL in connection with a forex violation case.

(With agency inputs)