Relatives are pitted against each other in this election season, from father-daughter to cousins and nephews.
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha polls are set to witness interesting fights in many constituencies where close family relatives are pitted against each other, from father-daughter to cousins and nephews.
In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has fielded former Union Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo from Araku constituency, from where V. Shruti Devi, his daughter, is contesting on a Congress ticket. Shruti is a lawyer and social activist.
Kishore Chandra Deo, a veteran parliamentarian belonging to the Kurupam royal family, had contested the seat on a Congress ticket in 2009 elections and won. Before that, he was a Rajya Sabha MP. He contested the seat again in 2014 on a Congress ticket, but lost. Just before the elections this time, he joined the TDP. His daughter had actively campaigned for him in the past.
In Firozabad, Samajwadi Party founder and presently leader of Pragatishil Samajwadi Party, Shivpal Yadav, is pitted against his own nephew Akshay Yadav, who is the sitting MP from there. Akshay Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, had won the seat in the 2014 elections, and is again contesting as a SP-BSP alliance candidate.
Sources said soon after filing nominations, Shivpal Yadav addressed a gathering at Shikohabad, but did not name either Ram Gopal or Akhilesh Yadav, the president of Samajwadi Party and just appealed to the people to vote for him. They said the minorities constitute more than 15% of the voters, which has made the battle interesting.
Similarly, in Bikaner, the Congress has fielded Madan Gopal Meghwal, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, as its candidates against BJP’s Arjun Ram Meghwal, a Union Minister, who is his cousin brother. Arjun Ram had left the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) job to join politics and contested from Bikaner in 2009, from where he won twice.
In Tamil Nadu, the battle in the bypolls for the Andipatti Assembly seat has become interesting, with two siblings joining the electoral battle. While DMK has given ticket to A. Maharajan, the AIADMK has fielded his younger brother A. Logirajan. Maharajan has been with the DMK for a long time and is considered an influential leader in the area.
In Bihar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has declared that he would contest against his own father in-law Chandrika Rai from Saran constituency, though a final decision is yet to be taken. This is to be noted that Lalu Yadav had contested the seat in 2009 and won. In 2014, his wife Rabri Devi was defeated by BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Chandrika Rai has been given RJD ticket as Lalu Yadav, who is in jail, has been disqualified to contest elections. Tej Pratap is unhappy with the way RJD ignored his “own” candidates in ticket distribution. He has floated the Lalu-Rabri Morcha and threatened that if his candidates are not given tickets in Sheohar and Jehanabad constituencies, he would field candidates against the RJD under his Morcha. He is also peeved with his family members as they did not support his move to divorce his wife Aishwarya Rai. Aishwarya Rai is still living with his family, though he has left the house in protest.