Her early days were spent in Palwal: Kin

Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service
Palwal, August 7

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Kanungoyan Mohalla residents vividly when little Sushma ran through the streets. He father late Chhail Mohan lived in Kanungoyan Mohalla here. She spent some part of her early childhood here before shifting to Ambala when she was 11 or 12. 

Due to some personal issues, Swaraj and her elder brother Dr Gulshan Sharma had to move to Ambala as they were adopted by the maternal uncle of her stepmother residing there.

Sushma's father, who was employed as head clerk in a college here, expired in 1984. However, Maya Devi, stepmother of Sushma, had still been residing in the city along with her two sons Giriraj Sharan and Hanumat Bhardwaj. Sushma had one real sister and two brothers — Vandana Sharma (a member of HPSC), Dr Gulshan Rai Sharma and Arvind Sharma, the latter one had died a few years ago.

“Though she felt very attached to Palwal, her last visit to Palwal was in 2012. She became a Cabinet Minister in Haryana at the age of 25 in 1977. He said she had been given as many as eight portfolios at that time. Her name figured in Limca Book of Records at that time,” says Giriraj, her half brother who is employed in GGSD College here. Palwal will continue to remember her for long, he says.