OP Chautala: From Five-Time CM to Completing Class 12 at 87, A Legacy Remembered

Gurugram (The Uttam Hindu):  Former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Chief Om Prakash Chautala died on Friday. He breathed his last at his residence at the age of 89. Chautala was unwell for the past few days. Om Prakash Chautala played an important role in the politics of the state, he also held responsibility as the Chief Minister of the state. Chautala has been identified as a strong leader. He is counted among the influential leaders of Haryana. He was also in the news for passing the 12th examination in 2022. According to the information received, the body of OP Chautala will be brought to his native village in Sirsa and will be kept for the last darshan of the people. After this, his last rites will be performed in the village itself.

OP Chautala was the eldest son of former Deputy PM of India Devi Lal. He has been the CM of Haryana five times. He formed his own party after the Lok Sabha elections held in the year 1996. Om Prakash Chautala has two sons, Ajay Chautala and Abhay Chautala. Both of them also have two sons each. Ajay Chautala's sons are named Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala. Doctors have said that the cause of Om Prakash Chautala's death was cardiac arrest. His body will be kept for the last darshan at Teja Kheda Farm in Sirsa from 8 am to 2 pm tomorrow. He will be cremated at 3 pm. He made another new record in 2021, when he passed the 10th and 12th examinations at the age of 87. In the year 2017, Om Prakash Chautala passed the 10th class examination from the National Institute of Open School. The big thing was that during that time he was serving a 10-year sentence in Delhi's Tihar Jail in connection with the teacher recruitment scam.

After giving the 10th exam, Chautala gave the 12th class exam under the Haryana Open Board in 2021. But due to some reason, he could not give the English paper, so the Haryana Board of School Education withheld his 12th result. He gave the exam to get his 12th class result released. He scored 88 out of 100 marks in the English paper this year. When the media tried to talk to Om Prakash Chautala at the examination center, he refused to talk saying, "I am a student."