Taking family’s political legacy forward
Second-generation leaders of some political families have established themselves and there are also many families whose thirdgen has either already entered politics or are almost ready to do so, says political analyst
PRAYAGRAJ : While most of the political parties are yet to open their cards on fielding candidates from the 12 Assembly seats of Prayagraj, the district that also has two Lok Sabha seats is witnessing new generations of political families carrying forward their legacy amid the war of words on dynastic politics.
“The second generation leaders of some political families have already established themselves over the years and there are also many families whose third generation has either already entered politics or are almost ready to do so,” said Prof MP Dube, political analyst and former vice-chancellor of UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU).
Be it the brother-sister duo of Vijay Bahuguna Joshi and Rita Joshi (sitting MP from Allahabad Parliamentary seat), both taking forward the legacy of their father and former UP CM HN Bahuguna or Sidharth Nath Singh, grandson of former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri to Satish Jaiswal, son of socialist leader Saligram Jaiswal — all are the second-generation leaders, said Prof Dube.
Joining the league are leaders of the younger generation like Harshvardhan Bajpai, Ujjwal Raman Singh, Deepak Patel, Shailendra Kumar and his younger brother Satyaveer Munna, both sons of Dharamveer, veteran Congress leader, he added.
Harshvardhan is the sitting MLA from Allahabad North Assembly seat. The third generation of the family of former Union minister and governor Rajendra Kumari Bajpai, he had defeated five-time MLA from Congress Anugrah Narain Singh in 2017 to emerge victorious.
His father, Ashok Bajpai too, was MLA from the same seat in 1980, said political observers.
Likewise, Ujjwal Raman Singh, son of former UP minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh, became an MLA and a minister in the state government in 2007. He became MLA for the second time in 2017 on Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket.
Similarly, Deepak Patel, son of former zila panchayat president and BJP MP from Phulpur, Kesari Devi Patel, became an MLA from Karchana in 2012. Neelam Karwaria of the BJP is wife of former MLA Udaybhan Karwaria. She became MLA for the first time in 2017 from Meja seat. Former MP from Phulpur Kapil Muni and former MLC Surajbhan Karwaria too are from the same family.
The political legacy of former MLA of SP Mahesh Narayan Singh is being carried forward by his son Prashant Singh, after he won the Handia Assembly seat in the by-elections of 2013.
Pooja Pal of the BSP, wife of Raju Pal, a former MLA from Allahabad West, also became MLA from the same seat, twice, first in 2007 and then in 2012. Former MLA Jawahar Yadav’s wife Vijma Yadav has also moved ahead with his political legacy getting elected from erstwhile Jhunsi seat and later from Pratappur seat of Prayagraj.
Former MP Shailendra Kumar, the eldest son of Dharamveer, who was a Union minister and very close to the Gandhi family, is also carrying forward the political legacy of his father. He was also an MP twice. At the same time, Dharmaveer’s younger son Satyaveer Munna became an MLA in 2012 from the Soraon Assembly seat of Prayagraj.
However, there were some prominent politicians from Prayagraj, family members of whom did not carry the legacy forward. One such name is MP from Chail seat Ram Nihor Rakesh. The family of former Prime Minister VP Singh, who is said to have changed the course of Indian politics, has also distanced from politics: Neither his son Ajay Singh entered active politics nor anyone else from the family.
The families of Jang Bahadur Patel, who became a minister after defeating BSP founder Kanshi Ram from Phulpur and Rang Bahadur Patel, former MLA from Soraon seat, are also away from politics. The son of former Union minister Salim Sherwani has also kept distance from politics.
JOINING THE LEAGUE ARE LEADERS OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION LIKE HARSHVARDHAN BAJPAI, UJJWAL RAMAN SINGH, DEEPAK PATEL, SHAILENDRA