Independence may have done away with royalty in India, paving the way for democracy, but political dynasties have continued to flourish, both at the local and national level. Over the years , these family 'enterprises' have nurtured their constituencies as a legacy to handed down from one generation to the next. Almost 50 years since Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was first elected to the UP Assembly, 17 of his family members have followed suit. The sprawling SP family is followed closely by the Nehru-Gandhi one, where 11 family members followed Jawaharlal Nehru into public life. Their feuds have replaced palace intrigues, complete with conspiracies laced with melodrama, coupled with a clash of ambitions and the desire to inherit the political legacy.
The earliest such feud was between Indira Gandhi and her aunt Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit . According to late author Khushwant Singh, the two could not stand each other. After Indira Gandhi ascended to the prime ministership, a message went out to Congress leaders that any contact with Pandit would be at the cost of their political career.
But the greatest falling out so far has been between Indira Gandhi and her widowed daughter-in-law Maneka, worthy almost of a real-life saas-bahu (mother-in-law vs daughter-in-law) saga. Two years after death of her husband Sanjay in a plane crash, then 26-year-old Maneka and her 3-year-old son Varun Feroze, were reportedly evicted from her mother-in-law's house. The uneasy relationship between the two daughters-in-law – Sonia Gandhi, now President of the Congress party and Maneka, a BJP minister in the current government – have been the talk of Delhi's gossip circles.
Several other families, like the Scindias, Thackerays, Badals, and Karunanidhis have fought a bitter succession war. In the erstwhile royal family of the Scindias, Rajamate was a key BJP leader while her son, the late Madhavrao, was a senior Congress leader. Madhavrao's son Jyotiraditya is now a key Congress leaders of Congress and a confidante of Vice President Rahul Gandhi, himself Sonia's son. Jyoriaditya Scindia's aunt Vasundhara Raje is the BJP chief minister of Rajasthan . Another aunt Yashodhara Raje Scindia is a minister in the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government.
In Punjab, CM Parkash Singh Badal's nephew Manpreet Singh Badal was ousted from the state cabinet, and went on to join the Congress. In Maharahstra, the rift between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar to claim the NCP is well known after Supriya Sule became active in the politics. Similarly, BJP leader Gopinath Munde's nephew Dhananjay raised the banner of revolt and went to join the NCP. The rift in the Thackeray family is well documented, where nephew Raj fell out with his uncle and mentor Bal Thackeray following the emergence of senior Thackeray's son Uddhav as the political heir to the Shiv Sena.
In Tamil Nadu, the DMK suspended MK Alagiri, the elder son of patriarch M Karunanidhi, from the party after he complained against his brother Stalin, who was given charge of the party. The family feud of Telugu cinema legend and former chief minister NT Ramarao has been the most talked about issue in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. NTR's two sons-in-law – Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Duggubati Venkateshwara Rao – did not see each eye to eye, and have been in opposing camps for over 25 years.
A comical family dispute played in Bihar's first political family of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Many of his relatives, whom he brought into politics, are now against his family. His brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav left the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 2009 to join the Congress. He was later expelled from Congress. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, another trusted aide and cousin Ramkripal Yadav crossed over to the BJP, defeated Laloo's daughter Misa Bharti, and is now a union minister. Sadhu Yadav also contested against his sister and Laloo's wife Rabri Devi as an independent .
More discontent is brewing in Lalu Yadav's family in Bihar. He himself planted the seed of discontentment by breaking an age-old tradition in which the eldest son is the successor to the throne. He declared younger son Tejashwi as his heir by making him the Deputy Chief Minister over his eldest daughter Misa and elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.
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