The Hindu : New Delhi News : Poll 2004: bad news for political families

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Poll 2004: bad news for political families

NEW DELHI, APRIL 13. Dynasties are integral of Indian politics, but elections 2004 will probably be remembered more for the number of political families it has broken.

For every son or wife following the footsteps of their father or husband, there is an equal number of relatives contesting against their kin in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The Assembly poll debacle in Madhya Pradesh brought more than one bad news for former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. While on one hand he lost his rein of ten years and on the other his brother Laxman Singh to the BJP.

Laxman Singh would now be contesting on a BJP ticket in the coming polls.

While in Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti's brother Swami Prasad Lodh continues to throw tantrums over not getting a BJP nomination for the Parliamentary polls, Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh is witnessing the wife-son duo of former Union Minister Kalpanath Rai battling it out with each other for the second time in a row.

Uma Bharti has dismissed her brother's tirade against her saying, she is against `dynastic' politics making Lodh backtrack from his threat to join the Congress.

For Sudha and Siddharth Rai though, who are contesting on Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal tickets respectively, it will be a repeat of their earlier `face-off' probably allowing their opponent to romp home comfortably, like the last time.

The story of family feuds would probably be incomplete without the discussion on India's first family in politics, the Gandhis.

Elections 2004 would for the first time see members of the family campaigning against each other's party. While the late Rajiv Gandhi's son Rahul will make his political debut from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, his cousin Varun Sanjay Gandhi is the BJP's star campaigner.

Varun's mother Maneka Gandhi would be contesting on a BJP ticket from Pilibhit.

Former Orissa Chief Minister Giridhar Gomang's wife Hema Gomang got a Congress ticket from the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency of the state, much to the annoyance of Gomang, who had won this seat eight times in the past and had given over to her for ``safe-keeping'' when he took over the reins of the state.

Hema though had to give up the seat amid reports of her husband threatening divorce, but not before attributing his rage to the ``popularity'' she had gained in the constituency over the years.

Earlier Karnataka strongman S Bangarappa's son Kumar changed his party twice within a week.

Junior Bangarappa first quit Congress alongwith his father to join the BJP and then quickly switched back to the Congress after being denied a ticket in the coming elections.

He blamed the BJP for ``destroying our family.''

PTI

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