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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  From Congress split to SP feud: Political coups have been an Indian hallmark
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From Congress split to SP feud: Political coups have been an Indian hallmark

From national parties to regional satraps, power struggle and family feud have rattled Indian political landscape

The power struggle intensified in the Samajwadi Party with the warring father, Mulayam Singh Yadav (right), and son, Akhilesh, expelling members from the rival camp. Photo: AFPPremium
The power struggle intensified in the Samajwadi Party with the warring father, Mulayam Singh Yadav (right), and son, Akhilesh, expelling members from the rival camp. Photo: AFP

New Delhi: The power struggle in Uttar Pradesh between Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav took a decisive turn on Monday when the Election Commission certified the latter’s coup by allotting the party’s name as well as the election symbol to him before the state elections due next month. Mint takes a look at some of the political coups that grabbed headlines:

Samajwadi Party:

Trouble started brewing in the Samajwadi Party when Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was removed from the post of the party’s state president by his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and was denied a say in the ticket distribution process for the upcoming assembly election. The power struggle intensified with the warring father and son expelling members from the rival camp. However, Akhilesh Yadav enjoyed the support of 95% of the party legislators and was elected as the party’s national president, replacing his father, at the party’s national convention on 1 January. Worsening the feud, both the factions approached the Election Commission to stake claim to the party name and symbol- the cycle. The EC allotted the symbol as well as the party name to Akhilesh Yadav.

AIADMK:

The death of AIADMK chief M G Ramachandran (MGR) in 1987 led to war within his party, AIADMK, with both J. Jayalalithaa and Janaki Ramachandran, his wife, trying to appropriate his legacy and position themselves as its undisputed leader. Even though Janaki became chief minister, it soon led to a break between two factions. In the 1989 assembly election that followed, both factions fought separately under the banners AIADMK (Jayalalitha) and AIADMK (Janaki). Though the election saw the DMK come to power, the most spectacular win was for Jayalalithaa faction which decimated the Janaki faction to just two seats. Following the defeat, Janaki resigned from politics and merged her party with Jayalalithaa’s. The united AIADMK formed an alliance with the Congress and Jayalalithaa emerged as the unquestioned leader of the party.

TDP:

N.T. Rama Rao, the founder of the Telugu Desam, was overthrown by his son-in-law, Chandrababu Naidu in 1995 when the party that he had founded was overtaken by members he had ushered into politics. Naidu had gained command over the party and was the virtual leader of opposition from 1989-94, when NTR had taken a vow not to enter the state assembly, thus further strengthening his position in the party. Thus, most of the party leaders and cadre rallied with him in his coup against NTR. Even though NTR expelled Naidu and his friends from the party, Naidu had the support of the majority of the legislators in the party, thus legitimising his claim to the party.

Janata Dal

George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar broke away from erstwhile Janata Dal and floated the Samata Party in 1994. Tables were turned on Fernandes as he witnessed slow political isolation in the Janata Dal (United). First, Kumar is known to have played a key role in anointing Sharad Yadav as the chief of JD(U), overlooking Fernandes, and eventually, the one-tme mentor of Kumar, Fernandes was denied election ticket in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Kumar has eventually taken the centre stage in the party as he replaced Yadav as party chief last year.

Congress:

In 1969, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled from the Congress party on the grounds of violation of party discipline. India’s oldest political party witnessed a historical split with Gandhi floating Congress (R) a rival political front which saw nearly two-thirds of the members of the AICC (All India Congress Committee) switch sides in her favour. The party went on to secure a majority in the 1971 general elections.

Nidheesh MK in Bengaluru also contributed to the story

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Published: 17 Jan 2017, 01:58 PM IST
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