New Delhi: With the election season well underway, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has turned to its pet theme to attack the Congress — dynastic politics.
The party’s leaders never miss an opportunity to attack Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his lineage, while even reserving contempt for Gandhi’s great grandfather, India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
But while the Nehru-Gandhi family dominates the discourse about dynasty, this culture thrives across political parties and regions — from the north to the south, the west to the east. Such is the extent of dynastic politics, that some families have members who not only cut across the political divide but also across state lines.
As early as last week, union minister Ram Vilas Paswan remarked that there is a demand from workers of his party — the Lok Janshakti Party — to field his wife or son from the Lok Sabha seat at Hajipur in Bihar.
This even as Paswan’s son, Chirag, is already a Lok Sabha MP and brother Ram Chandra Paswan is the MP from Samastipur in Bihar. If Paswan does field his wife Reena, she would be the latest from the clan to join public life.
With the tradition now seemingly entrenched in Indian politics, ThePrint takes a look at 34 of these prominent political dynasties across 20 states. (where at least three members of a family have been in active politics).
Also read: Family or me? Modi’s dynasty diatribe has left these top politicians in a spot
The big two in Kashmir
The dynastic politics begins right at the country’s northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir where two families — the Abdullahs and the Muftis — have dominated public life for decades.
The more prominent of the two are the Abdullahs, who have had at least four chief ministers from their ranks, spanning three generations.
The current National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah has served as the J&K chief minister while his father, Farooq Abdullah, has been at the helm in the state on multiple terms besides being a union minister in the UPA 2 government between 2009 and 2014.
Omar’s grandfather is Sheikh Abdullah — popularly referred to as ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’ (Kashmir’s lion) — who founded the NC before going on to serve as the prime minister of Kashmir and later as the chief minister.
The family’s ties to the top chair in the state do not end there. Farooq’s brother-in-law — Ghulam Mohammad Shah — served as the chief minister in the 1980s.
Apart from this, Sheikh Abdullah’s brother, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, served as a minister in the state while Sheikh Nazir, Farooq’s cousin, was the NC’s longest-serving secretary-general, having held the post for nearly three decades. He passed away in 2015.
The Muftis, meanwhile, have had their patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the founder of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti serve as the state’s chief minister. Sayeed’s son, Tassaduq Mufti, a cinematographer, is the latest entrant into politics from the Mufti family.
Next – Amarindar & the Badals families of Punjab
Amarinder & Badal families of Punjab
In Punjab, the Badal family has dominated politics for decades with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) founder and four-time chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal, leading the way.
His son Sukhbir Singh Badal is now the president of the party and had served as the deputy CM of the state between 2009 and 2017. Sukhbir has also been a Lok Sabha MP and was a union minister for a brief while in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government that had a mere 13-month stint in 1998.
Sukhbir’s wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a Lok Sabha MP and a minister in the Modi government.
Harsimarat’s brother, the controversial Bikram Singh Majithia, is also a SAD politician and was a state cabinet minister when the Akalis were in power.
Parkash Singh Badal’s brother, Gurdas Singh Badal, though now estranged, has also been a parliamentarian. Gurdas’ son, Manpreet Singh Badal, once looked set for bigger things in SAD before relations soured between the families. He is now with the Congress.
Serving Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh also has other family members in politics. His wife Preenet Kaur is a three-time Lok Sabha MP and served in the Manmohan Singh cabinet in the UPA 2 government while son Raninder Singh is also with the Congress party.
Amarinder’s mother, Mohinder Kaur, was also a Congress leader and an MP.
Next – The Chautalas, Hoodas, Jindals & Bishnois of Haryana
Also read: Do young dynasts appeal to new gen voters or are they also practising outdated politics?
The Chautalas, Hoodas, Jindals & Bishnois of Haryana
Haryana is awash with political families but a bitter feud has seen the spotlight firmly fixed on one of the most prominent among them — the Chautalas.
The row has pitted Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) patriarch and former chief minister, Om Prakash Chautala, and his younger son Abhay Chautala, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, against his elder son Ajay Singh Chautala and Ajay’s sons Dushyant and Digvijay.
The party patron had last year expelled Ajay, Dushyant (the Lok Sabha MP from Hisar) and Digvijay from the party. Dushyant launched the Jannayak Janata Party, which allied with the Aam Aadmi Party for the high-stakes Jind assembly bypoll last month.
Ajay Chautala’s wife Naina, meanwhile, is an MLA from Dabwali in Haryana.
Om Prakash, however, is not a first-generation politician. His father Devi Lal was India’s deputy prime minister between 1989 and 1991 besides having served as Haryana chief minister. Ranjit Singh, Om Prakash’s estranged younger brother, has also been a member of the Haryana assembly.
The Hoodas of Haryana are yet another set of powerful politicians. Ranbir Singh Hooda, a Congress politician, was part of India’s freedom movement and a member of the constituent assembly. His son Bhupinder Singh Hooda — an influential Jat leader — has served as the state’s chief minister while grandson Deepender Hooda is a Congress MP.
Industrialist O.P. Jindal was a senior politician who served as a minister in the state while his wife Savitri Jindal has also been a minister. Their son Naveen Jindal is a former Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra.
Haryana’s ties with powerful families include that of former chief minister Bhajan Lal. His son, Kuldeep Bishnoi, is an MLA in the state and so is Kuldeep’s wife Renuka. In 2017, Bishnoi merged his party — the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) — with the Congress. The HJC was a breakaway faction of the Congress led by Bhajan Lal.
Next – The clans of Himachal, Delhi & Chhattisgarh
The Himachal clan
Although he was defeated in the 2017 assembly elections, veteran Congress leader Virbhadra Singh is the state’s longest-serving chief minister. Singh’s wife Pratibha has been a Lok Sabha MP while his son Vikramaditya was elected to the state assembly for the first time in the 2017 polls.
Delhi’s Dikshits
Three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had led the Congress to consecutive assembly victories (in 1998, 2003 and in 2008) before facing an embarrassing defeat against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2013, losing her own seat.
Dikshit’s father-in-law — Uma Shankar Dikshit — was part of the freedom movement and served as a union minister in the Indira Gandhi-led government in the early 1970s. He went on to serve as the governor of Karnataka and West Bengal. Her son Sandeep is a former Lok Sabha MP.
The Jogis and Sorens
In Chhattisgarh, the political clout of the Jogis may be declining, but their dynasty is anything but. Ajit Jogi, former Chhattisgarh chief minister, floated the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh after his son, Amit Jogi, and he were expelled from the Congress.
Ajit’s wife Renu Jogi is an MLA from the Kota assembly seat in Chhattisgarh. She quit the Congress in November last year to join her husband’s party after being denied a ticket. Meanwhile, Amit’s wife Richa also contested the year-end assembly polls in the state but lost.
The Sorens of Jharkhand have a tentacled political clan as well.
Shibu Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha head, has served as the state chief minister, a post that his son, Hemant Soren, has also held. Shibu’s other son, Durga, who died in 2009, was also an MLA. Durga’s wife Sita is a sitting MLA. His third son Basant is the president of the JMM youth wing.
In the heartland
Heartland states such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have their own, entrenched sets of political dynasties.
The deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot, is the son of the late Rajesh Pilot — a senior Congress leader, a union minister, a Lok Sabha MP and a powerful Gurjar leader. Sachin’s mother, Rama Pilot, has been an MLA from Hindoli and an MP from Dausa.
The Scindias, originally of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, have a political lineage that not only cuts across the party divide but also state lines.
Matriarch Vijaya Raje Scindia was a prominent Jana Sangh and BJP leader. Her daughters Yashodhara and Vasundhara Raje have followed in her footsteps to emerge as key BJP leaders. Vasundhara Raje has been a two-time Rajasthan chief minister while her son Dushyant is a BJP MP.
Vijaya Raje’s son, Madhavrao, and grandson Jyotiraditya have tread a different path. The father and son have been senior Congress leaders as well as cabinet ministers in the central government. Madhavrao Scindia died in a plane crash in 2001.
Next – The clans of UP, Bihar & Uttarakhand
The Yadavs of UP & Bihar
Uttar Pradesh is the most crucial state electorally, sending 80 members to the Lok Sabha. The state, though, boasts of its own deep-rooted political dynasties.
While the Yadavs of the Samajwadi Party (SP) are the most well-known dynasty here, there are also others such as the clan of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India.
Singh’s son, Ajit Singh, founded the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — a party influential in the western part of the state. A former MP, Ajit Singh has served as a cabinet minister in various central governments. His son, Jayant Chaudhary, is an active politician and was an MP from Mathura between 2009 and 2014.
The Yadavs of Uttar Pradesh, meanwhile, are emblematic of the country’s tryst with powerful families.
At the head is former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. A very public, an almost-bitter feud has, however, led to son Akhilesh Yadav, a former CM himself, taking complete control of the Samajwadi Party (SP). While the father has continued to remain in the party, his frequent inscrutable comments have been a headache for Akhilesh.
Another power centre that Akhilesh has had to contend with is the influence of his uncles — Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav. While Ram Gopal, a Rajya Sabha MP, has continued to remain an important leader in the SP, Shivpal broke away to form his own party — the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party — in September 2018.
Mulayam’s daughters-in-law have also been active in politics. Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh’s wife, is a Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj while Aparna Yadav, his younger son Prateek’s wife, unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly polls from the Lucknow Cantt constituency.
Much like Mulayam, former Bihar chief minister and ex-union minister Lalu Yadav also has his political antecedents in socialism and the ‘JP movement’ (led by Jay Prakash Narayan) of the 1970s.
Known for his wit, colourful use of language, astute political brains and, of course, the infamous fodder scam, Lalu now has four of his blood relatives, besides him, in politics.
His wife Rabri Devi has been a chief minister while son Tejashwi is the leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly. Elder son Tej Pratap was a minister in the state and his daughter Misa Bharti contested the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat in 2014 but lost. Several of Lalu’s nine children are married into political families.
The Bahugunas of UP and Uttarakhand
Originally from Uttar Pradesh, the Bahugunas now straddle between the state and neighbouring Uttarakhand.
The first-generation among them to enter politics, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, had a tumultuous relationship with the Congress where he began his politics. He was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
His son Vijay Bahuguna, who split from the Congress along with other rebels to join the BJP ahead of 2017 assembly polls in Uttarakhand, has served as the state’s chief minister and a Lok Sabha MP. His sister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, meanwhile, is a minister in the current BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. A senior Congress leader, she joined the BJP in 2016 along with her brother.
Vijay’s sons, Saket and Saurabh, are also active in politics.
Next – Maharashtra’s political families
Maharashtra’s political families
Much like Haryana, Maharashtra too is riddled with powerful political families.
At the top are the Thackerays of the Shiv Sena. The party’s founder Bal Thackeray ushered in an era of ultra-Right, staunch pro-Marathi politics in the state. His son Uddhav Thackeray now heads the Shiv Sena while his nephew Raj Thackeray split from the party in 2006 to float his own outfit — the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Despite the initial hype, MNS has failed to make much of a dent in the state’s politics.
Uddhav’s son, Aaditya, meanwhile, is the president of Yuva Sena, Shiv Sena’s youth wing.
The Pawars are yet another powerful political family in the state. Sharad Pawar, veteran politician, multiple-term CM of Maharashtra and former union minister with key portfolios, founded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999 after he split from the Congress.
Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha MP while his daughter Supriya Sule is the Lok Sabha MP from Baramati. His nephew Ajit Pawar, an MLA, has served as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.
The BJP’s Gopinath Munde, a five-time MLA who was inducted as a union cabinet minister for the first time a week before he died in 2014, was known as the party’s ‘OBC face’. His brother-in-law was Pramod Mahajan, another senior BJP leader and once a CM probable who was killed at the peak of his career.
At present, two of Munde’s three daughters are in politics — Pritam who is an MP and Pankaja who is a state cabinet minister. Gopinath Munde’s bother, Panditrao Munde, is a politician as well but fell out with the BJP and joined the NCP. Panditrao’s son, Dhananjay Munde, is also with the NCP and is the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council.
Meanwhile, Mahajan’s daughter, Poonam, is an MP.
The Congress’ Chavan family is another powerful clan in the state. Shankarrao Chavan was a two-time Maharashtra CM and a union minister who handled several key portfolios such as finance, defence, external affairs and home. His son Ashok Chavan is the Maharashtra Congress president and a former Maharashtra CM. Ashok’s wife Ameeta is an MLA from Bhokar and is touted to be a Lok Sabha candidate this year. His now estranged brother-in-law — Bhaskar Khatgaonkar — was also an MP from Nanded but quit the Congress to join the BJP in 2014.
In the east
Former President, veteran Congress leader and former union minister Pranab Mukherjee passed on his Jangipur Lok Sabha seat to his son Abhijit, who is currently an MP from there. Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha joined the Congress in 2014 and unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Delhi assembly election from the Greater Kailash constituency.
In neighbouring Odisha, BJD leader and Lok Sabha MP Tathagata Satpathy‘s parents have been politicians. While his mother Nandini served as the chief minister of the state, his father Devendra was a Lok Sabha MP. Sathpathy has announced that he will now quit electoral politics.
The northeast story
The Sangmas from Meghalaya are a dominant political family in the Northeast region.
Their foray into politics began with Purno Agitok Sangma, who is a former Meghalaya chief minister and a Lok Sabha Speaker. He split from the Congress and formed the NCP along with Sharad Pawar in 1999. In 2013, Sangma launched the National People’s Party.
His daughter Agatha is a former Lok Sabha MP and was an MoS in the UPA 2 government. His son Conrad is the current Meghalaya CM while his older son James is a senior minister in the state government with several key portfolios.
The Congress MP from Silchar in Assam, Sushmita Dev, is the daughter of veteran Congress leader from the state, Santosh Mohan Dev, and Bithika Dev, who was an MLA from Silchar.
Pradyot Deb Barman, who is part of the Tripura royal family, was recently appointed as the president of the state Congress. His father Kirit Bikram Deb Barman was an MP while mother Bibhu Kumari Debi has been an MLA, an MP and a minister in the state.
Karnataka’s bigwigs
The Deve Gowda family is often referred to as Karnataka’s Appa-Makkala Paksha (father-sons’ party). Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Deve Gowda and his sons have been one of the most influential political families in the state.
An MP from Hassan, Deve Gowda has always maintained the “humble farmer” image, one that has also been carried forward by his sons — current Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and PWD minister H.D. Revanna.
In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, both Revanna and Kumaraswamy’s sons — Prajwal and Nikhil — are expected to get tickets. Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha represents the Ramnagaram assembly constituency and Revanna’s wife Bhavani debuted in 2016 by winning the Hassan Zilla Panchayat elections.
Former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa continues to be the BJP’s only mass leader in the state. His sons — B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra — are active in politics. While the former is an MP from Shivamogga, the latter is the BJP State Yuva Morcha general secretary and is tipped to fight the Lok Sabha polls from the Varuna constituency.
Next – The NTR & YSR families of Andhra
The NTR & YSR families of Andhra
The dynasty of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (better known as NTR) seems to be losing its sheen with members of the family now relegated to the background.
NTR founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982 but it is his son-in-law and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu who has taken over the political mantle. Naidu took over the party in a coup in 1995 but accommodated NTR’s son Harikrishna and another son-in-law D. Venkateshwara Rao by making the former a legislator and the latter a minister.
NTR’s then-wife, Lakshmi Parvathy, who precipitated the crisis that led to the takeover, tried her hand at politics before giving it up.
Of late, NTR’s actor-turned-politician son Nandamuri Balakrishna, popularly called Balayya, contested the state polls from Hindupur on a TDP ticket after the bifurcation of the state in 2014 and won.
NTR’s daughter Daggubati Purandeswari is one of the more successful politicians in the family. A two-time Congress MP from Bapatla and Vishakhpathnam Lok Sabha constituencies, she switched to the BJP soon after the creation of Telangana.
Meanwhile, Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh is all set to take over his father’s political legacy.
Late Andhra CM Y. Rajasekhara Reddy, known more popularly as YSR, died in a plane crash in September 2009. However, his children — Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and Sharmila — have furthered his politics. Jagan, who broke away from the Congress in 2010 and announced the launch of the YSR Congress in 2011, won the Kadapa Lok Sabha by-election seat by a record margin of over five lakh votes in May 2011 while his mother Y.S. Vijayamma is has been an MLA.
Next – Telangana’s ‘first family’ & the Karunanidhi legacy in Tamil Nadu
The ‘first family’ of Telangana
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has weathered several political challenges to finally see his clan being acknowledged as the “first family” of India’s newest formed state.
Disillusioned with the TDP, KCR decided to float his own party — the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — in 2001.
KCR’s son K.T. Rama Rao began his political career in 2009 in the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls, while his daughter K Kavitha is the Lok Sabha MP from Nizamabad.
The Karunanidhi legacy in Tamil Nadu
The Muthuvel Karunanidhi family is a quintessential example of dynasty politics in Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch, who died last year, has been five-time chief minister and leader of his party since 1968.
Karunanidhi has six children from three wives. M.K. Alagiri, his second son born from his second wife, has been a former union minister and was the DMK’s coordinator for south Tamil Nadu. He was expelled from the DMK for alleged anti-party activities in 2014.
Current DMK president M.K. Stalin has emerged as the political heir to his father, working his way up the ranks. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi — from his third wife Rajathiammal — has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 2007. His nephew Murasoli Maran, who died in 2003, and grandnephew Dayanaidhi Maran have also been senior leaders as well as former union ministers.
Political ambitions have trickled down to the third generation in the family with some of Karunanidhi’s grandchildren set to take the big political plunge soon.
With inputs from Manasi Phadke