Harvinder Kalyan: A civil engineer who fulfilled his father’s dream to become MLA
As civil engineer, he has been in politics for over three decades now in Gharaunda that has remained a stronghold of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)
Harvinder Kalyan, three-time BJP MLA from Gharaunda in Karnal, on Friday took oath as the Speaker of the 15th Haryana Vidhan Sabha.
Kalyan, 57-year-old leader from the Ror Community, is a native of Kutail village in his constituency. As civil engineer, he has been in politics for over three decades now in Gharaunda that has remained a stronghold of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
A close confidant of former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Kalyan was the chairman of Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) from 2015 to 2019.
Kalyan is married to Reshma Kalyan, granddaughter of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantrao Naik and daughter of former Union minister Manohar Naik.
His elder brother, Devinder Kalyan is a 1990-batch IRS officer and currently serving with the Haryana government.
He is the younger son of Chaudhary Devi Singh Kalyan, former chairman of Haryana Agro Industries Corporation Ltd, who worked closely with Chaudhary Devi Lal and contested unsuccessfully from Nilokheri seat.
Having lost the election, Kalyan’s father wanted him to enter politics and get elected as an MLA.
Sundeep Sahil, a veteran journalist, remembers how 2004 was a turning point in Kalyan’s political journey, when he carried out a padhyatra as a youth Congress leader.
“As a 37-year-old man, he walked for over 300 kilometers and covered all 104 villages of Gharunda to understand the problems of the people. He stayed in a village for a day or two and met people. This was when the villagers witnessed his decency that has remained his strength,” he added.
After the padhyatra, Sahil said that Kalyan was eying a Congress ticket in 2005, but was denied. In 2009, he contested as a BSP candidate and finished third.
In 2014, Kalyan got a BJP ticket and won by a margin of 17,883 votes against INLD candidate.
In 2019, he defeated his Congress rival by 17,402 votes and recently by just 4,531 votes.
“Kalyan’s vote percentage has been increasing since 2014. In the 2024 elections, he gained nearly 50% votes. He is the third leader in Karnal district to have made a victory hat trick and has turned out to be a mass leader,” Sahil said.