FORMER Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala was cremated on Saturday with full State honours in Teja Khera village in his native Sirsa district. Chautala, who was a five-time Chief Minister, died in Gurugram on Friday. He was 89. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal were among prominent personalities who reached Teja Khera to attend the last rites of the departed leader. People gathered in large numbers for the last rites ceremony. Political leaders cutting across parties laid floral wreaths to pay their last respects to the departed leader. Many Haryana Ministers, State

 

Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan, former Union Minister Venod Sharma and several other leaders also reached Teja Khera to pay their last respects. Earlier, Chautala’s mortal remains were Saturday kept at the family’s Teja Khera farmhouse here for people to pay their last respects to the departed Indian National Lok Dal chief. His body was wrapped in the Indian Tricolour and decked with garlands. An INLD spokesperson said Chautala was rushed to a hospital after his health worsened on Friday. Om Prakash Chautala’s younger son Abhay Singh Chautala, an INLD leader, elder son Ajay Singh Chautala, who heads the JJP party, and other family members, including former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, ex-CM Chautala’s brother Ranjit Chautala, were present in Teja Khera for the cremation. The funeral pyre was lit by Chautala’s sons Ajay and Abhay in the presence of other family members amid chants of Vedic hymns by priests.