family member of political leader

epaper  annithisweek.in

Dynasty Politics in Himachal

Political leaders often raise the issue ofvanshvaad (Dynasty politics) whenever a family member of an established political leader enters electoral politics. It gives an opportunity to their political opponent to raise the issue. It is also a fact that members of established political families make their way to the active politics easier than a common party worker who toil for years together to get a nod from the party high command to contest any election. Entry of family members of politicians in active politics also leads to resentment among rank and file of party as committed workers aspiring to contest elections feel cheated. In such circumstances, they either leave the party or contest as independents. The practice of dynasty politics is adopted by both the main political parties in Himachal as many of their former and present leaders have established their children in Himachal politics. However, there are exceptions also in which no family member of established politicians has entered or intends to enter active politics. General masses also feel that political legacy should not be the sole criteria for allocating ticket for contesting elections. In stead, commitment and potential of workers should also be considered while taking such decisions. They add.

People’s Take…

 Politics is a field in which any one can go but dynasty politics should not be practiced in this field

-Ankit Bardhan Kullu  

 Political legacy should not be criteria for entry into active politics as it sends a wrong signal

-Raj Thakur Chamba

 It is a bad tradition being practiced by leaders as dynasty  politics causes resentment among party workers

-Tej Prakash Chopra Hamirpur

 Dynasty politics weakens the democracy and it is like handing over political legacy on the pattern of principalities

-Dr. C.S. Chauhan Una

 Dynasty  should not be considered as a merit as it deprives party workers to enter electoral politics

-Pankaj Sharma Mandi

 Political parties should discourage dynasty politics and those willing to serve masses should be preferred

-Sanjeev Sharma Nahan

 Political Legacy in Himachal

Shimla

Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Virbhara Singh	CM, Former	Pratibha Singh	Wife	2 time MP
(INC)	Union minister	Vikrmaditya	Son	Youth Congress
				president
Ram Lal Thakur	Former CM	Rohit Thakur	Grandson	Jubbal Kotkhai
(INC)				MLA
Hamirpur
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
PK Dhumal(BJP)	Former CM, MP	Anurag Thakur	Son	2 time MP
Jagdev Chand(BJP)	Remained	Narender Thakur	Son	Contested
	minister			assembly, LS
				elections
		Urmil Thakur	Daughter	2 time former
			-in-law	BJP MLA
Ramesh Verma(INC)	Remained MLA	Anita Verma	Wife	Former MLA
Rajinder Rana	Former MLA	Anita Rana	Wife	Contesting
(Independent				assembly
/ INC)				election
Sirmaur
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Dr. YS Parmar(INC)	First CM	Kush Parmar	Son	Remained MLA five times
Guman Singh(INC)	6 time	Harshvardhan	Son	Remained MLA
	former MLA			thrice
Dr. Prem Singh(INC)	Former MLA	Vinay Kumar	Son	MLA now
Una
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Omkar Sharma(INC)	Contested	Mukesh	Son	3 time MLA,
	assembly	Agnihotri		now minister
	election
VS Joshi (INC)	Former MLA	Vijay Joshi	Son	4 time former
				MLA
		KL Joshi (BJP)	Brother	Remained MLA
Kullu/ Lahaul & Spiti
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Kunj Lal Thakur (BJP)	Former minister	Gobind Thakur	Son	Now MLA
Raja Mahender Singh	Contested	Maheshwar	Son	Former minister,
	assembly	Singh		now MLA
	election	(BJP/HLP)
		Karan Singh	Son	Now MLA
		(BJP/INC)
Lal Chand Prarthi (INC)	Former minister	Kamla Prarthi	Daughter	Former Pradesh Congress Mahila President
Lata Thakur(INC)	Former MLA	Ravi Thakur	Son	Now MLA
RK Gaur (INC)	Former minister	Bhuvneshwar	Son	Contested
		Gaur		assembly
				election, Manali
				BCC president
Karan Singh(INC)	Now MLA	Aditya Vikram	Son	Mandi PC YC
		Singh		president
Mandi
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Sukh Ram	Former union	Anil Sharma	Son	Now
(INC/HVC)	minister			minister
Mahender Thakur	Former	Rajat Thakur	Son	BJYM district
(Now BJP)	minister,			president
	now MLA
Parkash Chaudhary	Now minister	Rimple	Son	NSUI state
(HVC/ INC)		Chaudhary		president
Kaul Singh (INC)	Now minister	Champa Thakur	Daughter	ZP member
Kangra
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
KBL Butail (INC)	INC MLA, HPCC	BBL Butail	Brother	5 times MLA,
	President	(Brother)		Now VS Speaker
Sant Ram (INC)	Former	Sudhir Sharma	Son	3 times MLA,
	minister			Now minister
MR Goma (INC)	Former MLA	Yadvindra Goma	Son	Now MLA
Chander Kumar	Former	Neeraj Bharti	Son	Now MLA/CPS
(INC)	minister, MP
Rajan Sushant	Former	Sudha Sushant	Wife	Contested
(BJP/AAP)	minister,			assembly
	MP			election
Sat Mahajan(INC)	Former	Ajay Mahajan	Son	Now MLA
	minister/MP
Chandresh Kumari	Former	Aishwarya Katoch	Son	Contested
(INC)	minister/MP			assembly
				election
GS Bali (INC)	Now Minister	Raghuvir Bali	Son	HPCC Secretary
Solan
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Harinarayan Saini	Former minister	Guman Kaur	Wife	Contested
(BJP)				assembly
				election
KD Sultanpuri	Former MP	Vinod Sultanpuri	Son	Contested
(INC)				assembly
				election
Lajja Ram	Former MLA	Ram Chaudhary	Son	Now MLA
(INC)
Vijeynder Singh	Former MLA	Sukriti Singh	Wife	Contested
(INC)				assembly
				election
Chamba
Leader	Position	Legacy	Relation	Position
Vidya Dhar(INC)	Former MLA	Surinder Bhardwaj	Son	Now MLA
Desh RajMahajan	Former MLA	Harsh Mahajan	Son	Remained MLA
(INC)				thrice
Thakur Singh	Now minister	Amit Bharmouri	Son	ZP Chairman
Bharmouri
(INC