BY ANAND SINGH
New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) With many Bihar exit polls predicting victory for the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Grand Alliance, if Tejashwi Yadav wins big in the Bihar Assembly polls on Tuesday, then he will be the second leader to join the elite league of a third Chief Minister from a political family.
A lot of debate has taken place in India over ‘vanshvaad’ (dynastic politics) but there are multiple examples where the grandfather-father-son, father-son and father-daughter who have served as the Chief Ministers of their respective states.
Sheikh Abdullah was the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir for many times. Farooq Abdullah then inherited the legacy of his father as he too became the Chief Minister on multiple occasions since 1982.
After Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah also served as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 to 2015.
If voted to power, the Lalu Prasad clan will become the second such family, which has given three Chief Ministers.
Tejashwi Yadav’s father Lalu Prasad and his mother Rabri Devi have served as Chief Ministers of Bihar from 1990 to 2005.
Lalu Prasad, who started his political career as a student leader, came to power in 1990 and served till 1997.
After he was mired in legal trouble in fodder scam, his wife Rabri Devi served as Chief Minister from 1997 to 2005.
Lalu Prasad has also served as Railway Minister in UPA 1 government between 2004 to 2009. He is currently serving jail term in several fodder scam cases.
Meanwhile, after the 2015 Assembly polls, Tejashwi Yadav was made the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. However, he had to step down after Janata Dal-United chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) partner and once again forged alliance with the NDA.
Before Tejashwi Yadav, there are several examples of father-son and father-daughter who have carried the inheritance of political legacy.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on multiple occasions since 1989 and his son Akhilesh Yadav was also held the top position between 2012 to 2017.
Another high profile political family is also from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, as the father daughter duo — Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti too served as Chief Ministers.
In the earlier undivided state of Madhya Pradesh, Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla and his son Shyama Charan Shukla have also served as Chief Ministers.
Similarly, in Haryana, the clan of Chaudhary Devi Lal, who served as Deputy Prime Minister, is also among in the fray.
Devi Lal served as Chief Minister of Haryana twice, and his son O.P. Chautala too served as Chief Minister of the state on several occasions.
Now, Devi Lal’s great grandson Dushyant Chautala is the Deputy Chief Minister of the state in alliance with the BJP.
Similarly, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha patriarch Shibu Soren is leading a political family in the mineral-rich eastern India state.
Shibu Soren served as chief Minister of Jharkhand thrice, and now his son Hemant Soren is leading the JMM-Congress government in the state.
On the other hand, in Odisha, Biju Patnaik served as Chief Minister twice, while son Naveen Patnaik is the current Chief Minister of the state for last two decades.
In the southern state of Karnataka, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy have served as the Chief Ministers.
In undivided Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the 14th Chief Minister and his son Y.S. Jaganamohan Reddy is now Chief Minister of residual Andhra Pradesh.
Bihar voted for 243 seats in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. Counting of votes will take place on November 10.
Many exit polls have predicted thumping victory for the RJD-led Grand alliance in Bihar predicting that Tejashwi Yadav may dislodge the Nitish Kumar-led NDA alliance, while others have predicted a hung assembly.
(Anand Singh can be contacted at Anand.s@ians.in)
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