Nikki Haley diverted from NH after father hospitalized: campaign

Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley was briefly forced off the campaign trail late Tuesday night to tend to her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who was hospitalized, her campaign confirmed.

Haley had been in New Hampshire Tuesday and fielded multiple campaign events, but then seemingly went dark early Wednesday.

Her campaign did not divulge specifics about her father’s condition, but he is believed to be in his 90s.

Haley returned to the Granite State Wednesday night for a rally in Rochester.

Her father is reportedly “doing OK,” according to an ABC News reporter who spoke with Haley campaign officials.

Randhawa, who hails from India’s northern Punjab region, is a retired biology professor who taught at the historically black Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, from 1969 until 1998.

 “I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world,” Haley said of her parents at the 2020 Republican National Convention.

“We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave into grievance and hate.”

News of Haley’s father comes amid scrutiny over her campaign itinerary.

It also came as her husband, Michael, is deployed overseas in Africa.

This week, Haley announced plans to forgo the two Republican debates in New Hampshire unless former President Donald Trump participates.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pummeled both Haley and Trump for ducking the debates.

“I’m the only one not running a basement campaign,” DeSantis declared during a New Hampshire town hall with CNN Tuesday evening.

DeSantis’s campaign has also needled her for declining to take questions from voters during the Iowa homestretch.

Despite her third-place finish in the Iowa Caucus on Monday, Haley has insisted that the 2024 battle for the GOP nod is a two-person race between her and Trump.

Both Trump and Haley have revved up rhetorical fire on one another as they jockey for the Granite State ahead of the primary election next Tuesday.

In New Hampshire, Trump is up with 46.3% support, followed by Haley at 33% and DeSantis at 5.8%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.

Haley is set to participate in a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Thursday.