Same family, different politics

Story so far:  ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin’s wife, son, and son-in-law created history on May 4, 2026 after being elected from three different parties in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assembly elections. Winning from Lalgudi constituency for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Leena Rose Martin will join her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakam seat on a Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) ticket as MLAs in the next Tamil Nadu Assembly. Her son, Jose Charles Martin, who founded his own party in Puducherry — Latchiya Jananayaka Katchi — won from Kamarajar Nagar seat, and is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). 

The Martins are one of the rare cases in Tamil Nadu where members of the same family belong to different parties. While the State’s strongest political family — the Karunanidhi family are together in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (except K. Alagiri who has been expelled form the party), the State has three other political families whose members are in different parties.  

Former AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala walked out on her nephew TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam to launch her own party — All India Puratchithalaivar Makkal Munnettra Kazhagam, ahead of the state polls. Meanwhile, late MP H. Vasanthkumar and his son Vijay Vasanth are in Congress, while his niece Tamilisai Soundararajan is with the BJP, previously heading its Tamil Nadu unit. 

Similarly, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss was expelled from his party after a feud with his son Anbumani Ramadoss, compelling him to launch his own faction — Ayya Pattali Makkal Katchi.

From the Gandhis on a national level to the KCR family in Telangana and the Chautalas in Haryana, political families across States have been split on party lines.

Gandhis

Dubbed as India’s ‘first family’, the Gandhi-Nehru family split across Congress and BJP. Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi lead the Congress party, while his brother Sanjay Gandhi’s widow Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi have been long time BJP MPs.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (now known as Bharat Rashtra Samiti) founder K. Chandrashekhara Rao (KCR) saw his family rupture after his nephews T. Harish Rao and J. Santosh Kumar, who are leaders in KCR’s party, edged out his daughter K. Kavitha. Facing a suspension from BRS, K. Kavitha launched her own party — Telagana Rakshana Sena (TRS) while her brother K. T. Rama Rao remains with her father in BRS. 

KCR’s peer — N Chandrababu Naidu who heads the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has his own family split across parties. TDP Founder N. T. Rama Rao’s sons N. Harikrishna, N. Balakrishna are loyal to Mr. Naidu remaining with the TDP. However, the founder’s daughter D. Purandeshwari is with the BJP, formerly heading its Andhra unit, while her husband D. Venkateshwara Rao is with Congress. 

Mr. Naidu’s primary rival in Andhra — late Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy’s family is also serving in opposing parties. After the former Andhra CM’s death in 2009, his wife Y.S. Vijaya along with their son Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter Y.S. Sharmila split from the Congress to float their own party YSRCP. However, after Mr. Jagan’s election as CM in 2019, his sister attempted to float her own Telangana unit of the party before switching sides to Congress. With the siblings pitted against each other in Andhra, Y.S. Vijaya has now resigned from YSRCP and is not involved in politics anymore. 

Bihar and Jharkhand

Bihar’s newly sworn-in BJP Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary comes from one such family. His father — Shakuni Choudhary was the founding member of Samata Party before switching to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and finally retiring from active politics. His younger brother Rohit Choudhary is currently an elected Janata Dal (United ) [JDU] MLA. 

The most influential family in Bihar — Lalu Prasad Yadav’s, has seen ruptures in recent years. The patriarch Mr. Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi continue to helm the RJD while their children Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti are active leaders of RJD. However, their estranged elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has floated his own outfit — Janashakti Janata Dal and his sister Rohini Acharya has ‘quit politics’ after the party’s State poll drubbing last year. 

In the neighbouring state, late Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren’s clan saw fissures erupt in 2024. Incumbent CM and JMM founder’s son Hemant Soren’s arrest in January 2024 created a leadership turmoil as his wife Kalpana Soren began gaining more prominence in JMM. His sister-in-law Sita Soren, widow of his elder brother Durga Soren, quit the party and jumped ship to BJP, weeks ahead of Lok Sabha polls, citing a ‘lack of respect in JMM and familial neglect’.

West Bengal, Uttar and Madhya Pradesh

In India’s most populous State — Uttar Pradesh, late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was a five-time MLA with a long association with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Ansari’s father Subhanallah was with the Communist Party of India (CPI) while his grandfather Mukhtar Ansari was a former Congress president and one of the founding member of All India Muslim League. Currently, Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari and nephew Suhaib Ansari are in Samajwadi Party, while his son Abbas Ansari is an elected MLA for Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party. 

Another Samajwadi party veteran — Swami Prasad Maurya, jumped ship to the BJP in 2022, before launching his own outfit Apni Janta Party. However, his daughter Sanghamitra, remains in BJP. 

In another Hindi belt State — Madhya Pradesh, late BJP veteran Dilip Singh Chaturvedi’s sons are in opposing parties. Following his father, his son Mukesh Chaturvedi is BJP’s State vice president while his brother Rakesh Chaturvedi switched sides from BJP to Congress in 2019. In Bengal, Trinamool is represented by veteran leader Saugata Roy in the Lok Sabha. His elder brother Tathagatha Roy, who has served as Governor of Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, has been BJP’s state unit chief and national executive committee member.

Haryana

The most politically diverse family is the Chautala family of Haryana. Late former deputy PM Devi Lal founded the Lok Dal party in which his son Om Prakash Chautala, grandson Abhay Chautala, and great grandson Arjun Singh Chautala are currently in leadership positions, while his other son Ranjit Singh Chautala is an Independent MLA. Breaking away from the family party in 2018, Devi Lal’s great-grandson Dushyant Chautala founded the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) which allied with BJP to form the State government in 2019. His father Ajay Singh Chautala and mother Naina Singh are also JJP MLAs. 

Two late former Congress CMs — Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal have family members across parties. Bansi Lal had split away from Congress in 1991 to form the Haryana Vikas party (HVP), which later merged with Congress in 2004. While his younger son Surender Singh (who passed away in 2005) briefly headed HVP, his elder son Ranbir Singh Mahendra has always been associated with Congress. Surendra Singh’s widow Kiran Choudhry was with Congress, but switched to BJP after her husband’s death and her daughter Shruti is currently a BJP minister in Haryana government. 

Bhajan Lal split away from Congress to establish the Harayana Janhit Congress in 2007, which later merged with Congress in 2016. While his elder son Chander Mohan is with the Congress, his younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi switched to the BJP in 2022. Mr. Bishnoi’s wife Renuka and his son Bhavya are BJP MLAs and Bhajan Lal’s nephew Dura Ram are with the BJP.

Maharashtra

The largest number of political families with members in opposing parties is in Maharashtra. The Thackeray family is split into three parties — Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray’s successor Uddhav was edged out of the party by long-time aide Eknath Shinde who currently heads Shiv Sena. Mr. Thackeray has renamed his faction as Shiv Sena (UBT) and his son Aaditya is currently an MLA from Worli. 

In 2005, Balasaheb’s nephew Raj Thackeray split away from Sena to float the MNS in which son is also a leader. Balasaheb’s estranged elder son Jaidev Thackeray and his ex-wife Smita Thackeray have publicly backed Mr. Shinde, but are not members of his faction. 

The close-knit Pawar family, too, saw a split in 2023 when Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) veteran Ajit Pawar parted ways with party founder Sharad Pawar. Ajit Pawar, who died on January 28, retained NCP while the 85-year-old Sharad Pawar was forced to form his splinter faction NCP (SP). Currently, Ajit Pawar’s widow Sunetra Pawar and his son Parth Pawar are with NCP while Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule, and his grand-nephew Rohit Pawar are with NCP (SP). 

Former CM (late) Shankarrao Chavan was with Congress till his death in 2004. However, his son Ashok Chavan, who served two terms as CM (2008-2010), ditched Congress to join BJP in 2024. Along with wife Ameeta and daughter Sreejaya, he is currently a BJP MLA. Similarly, veteran Congress leader Shankarrao Mohite-Patil’s family is split across parties. His son Vijaysinh and grandson Dhairyasheel switched from Congress to NCP-SP while his other son Pratapsinh and grandson Ranjitsinh are with BJP. 

Another instance of Congress veteran’s family split across parties is of Dattatray Tatkare’s. His son Anil Tatkare is with NCP-SP while his grandson has switched to the BJP. His other son Sunil Tatkare and his children Aniket and Aditi Tatkare are with NCP. 

A rare instance of split in a BJP-linked family are Eknath Khadse and Gopinath Munde’s families. Mr. Khadse along with his daughter Rohini switched from the saffron party to NCP-SP while his daughter-in-law Rakhsha Khadse remains with the BJP, serving as a Union Minister (MoS) in the Modi cabinet. In the late Mr. Munde’s case, his daughters Pritam and Pankaja Munde are senior BJP leaders while his nephew Dhananjay Munde switched to NCP in 2012, after Mr. Munde’s untimely death.