Story so far: The wife, son and son-in-law of ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin created history on May 4, 2026, after being selected from three different parties in the recently concluded lottery. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assembly elections. Winning from Lalgudi constituency for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Leena Rose Martin will join her son-in-law Aadhav Arjun, who won from Villivakam seat on Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) ticket, to become MLA in the next Tamil Nadu Assembly. His son, Jose Charles Martin, who founded his own party in Puducherry – Lachiya Jananayaka Katchi – won from the 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 – is together in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (except K. Alagiri who has been expelled from the party), there are three other political families in the state whose members are in different parties.
Former AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala broke away from her nephew TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam and launched her own party – All India Purchithalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam – ahead of the state elections. Meanwhile, late MP H. Vasanthakumar and his son Vijay Vasanth are with the Congress, while his niece Tamilisai Soundararajan, who previously headed its Tamil Nadu unit, is with the BJP.
Similarly, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss was expelled from his party after a feud with his son Anbumani Ramadoss, forcing him to start his own faction – Ayya Pattali Makkal Katchi.
From the Gandhi family at the national level to the KCR family in Telangana and the Chautala family in Haryana, political families in the states have been divided along party lines.
Gandhi family
The Gandhi-Nehru family, known as the ‘First Family’ of India, got divided into 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 her brother Sanjay Gandhi’s widow Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi have been longtime BJP MPs.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now known as Bharat Rashtra Samithi) founder K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) saw his family torn apart when his nephews T. Harish Rao and J. Santosh Kumar, who are KCR’s party leaders, ousted his daughter K. Kavitha. Facing suspension from BRS, K. Kavitha launched her own party – Telangana Raksha Sena (TRS), while her brother KT Rama Rao remains with their father in BRS.
KCR’s counterpart – Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s own family is divided among several parties. TDP founder NT Rama Rao’s son N. Harikrishna, N. Balakrishna is loyal to Mr Naidu while remaining with the TDP. However, the founder’s daughter D. Purandeshwari, who previously headed its Andhra unit, is with the BJP, while her husband D. Venkateswara Rao is with the Congress.
The family of Mr Naidu’s primary rival in Andhra – the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy – is also working in the opposition parties. After the death of the former Andhra CM in 2009, his wife YS Vijaya along with their son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter YS Sharmila broke away from the Congress and formed their own party YSRCP. However, after Mr Jagan was elected CM in 2019, his sister attempted to form her own Telangana unit of the party before switching to the Congress. With the brothers and sisters pitted against each other in Andhra, YS Vijaya has now resigned from the YSRCP and is no longer involved in politics.
Bihar and Jharkhand
Bihar’s newly appointed BJP Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary comes from one such family. His father – Shakuni Chaudhary was a founding member of the Samata Party before moving to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and eventually retiring from active politics. His younger brother Rohit Chaudhary is currently an elected MLA from Janata Dal (United) (JDU).
Bihar’s most influential family – Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family – has seen disintegration in recent years. Patriarch Mr Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi continue to lead the RJD, while their children Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti are active RJD leaders. However, his estranged elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has formed his own outfit – Janashakti Janata Dal and his sister Rohini Acharya has ‘quit politics’ after the party’s defeat in the state elections last year.
In the neighboring state, there was a rift in the clan of late Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren in 2024. The arrest in January 2024 of current CM and JMM founder’s son Hemant Soren led to leadership turmoil as his wife Kalpana Soren started gaining more importance in JMM. His sister-in-law Sita Soren, widow of his elder brother Durga Soren, quit the party and joined the BJP a few weeks before the Lok Sabha elections, citing ‘lack of respect in JMM and family neglect’.
West Bengal, North and Madhya Pradesh
In India’s most populous state – Uttar Pradesh, late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was a five-time MLA and had a long association with the 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 members of the All India Muslim League. Currently, Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari and nephew Suhaib Ansari are in the Samajwadi Party, while his son Abbas Ansari is an elected MLA from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party.
Another veteran Samajwadi Party leader – Swami Prasad Maurya, joined the BJP in 2022, before starting his own outfit Apni Janata Party. However, his daughter Sanghamitra remains in BJP.
In another Hindi heartland state – Madhya Pradesh, the sons of late BJP leader Dilip Singh Chaturvedi are in the opposition parties. After his father, his son Mukesh Chaturvedi is the state vice president of BJP, while his brother Rakesh Chaturvedi switched from BJP to Congress in 2019. In Bengal, Trinamool is represented in the Lok Sabha by veteran leader Saugata Roy. His elder brother Tathagata Roy, who has served as the governor of Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, has been the BJP’s state unit chief and a member of the national executive committee.
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 currently hold 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 formed an alliance with the BJP to form the state government in 2019. His father Ajay Singh Chautala and mother Naina Singh are also JJP MLAs.
The family members of two late former Congress chief ministers – Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal – are in different parties. Bansilal broke away from the Congress in 1991 and formed the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), which later merged with the Congress in 2004. While his younger son Surendra Singh (who died in 2005) led the HVP for some time, his elder son Ranbir Singh Mahendra was always associated with the Congress. Surendra Singh’s widow Kiran Chaudhary was in the Congress but switched to the BJP after her husband’s death and her daughter Shruti is currently a BJP minister in the Haryana government.
Bhajan Lal separated from the Congress in 2007 and founded Haryana Janhit Congress, which later merged with the Congress in 2016. While his elder son Chandra Mohan is with Congress, his younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi switched to BJP in 2022. Mr Bishnoi’s wife Renuka and his son Bhavya are BJP MLAs and Bhajan Lal’s nephew Dura Ram is with the BJP.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra has the largest number of political families with members in opposition parties. The Thackeray family is divided into three parties – Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Uddhav, the successor to Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray, was ousted from the party by his long-time aide Eknath Shinde, who currently heads the Shiv Sena. Mr Thackeray has changed the name of his faction to Shiv Sena (UBT) and his son Aditya is currently the MLA from Worli.
In 2005, Balasaheb’s nephew Raj Thackeray broke away from the Sena and formed the MNS party, in which his son is also a leader. Balasaheb’s estranged elder son Jaydev Thackeray and his former wife Smita Thackeray have publicly supported Mr Shinde, but are not members of his faction.
The close-knit Pawar family also saw a split in 2023 when Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stalwart Ajit Pawar parted ways with party founder Sharad Pawar. Ajit Pawar, who died on January 28, retained the NCP, while 85-year-old Sharad Pawar was forced to form his own separate faction NCP (SP). Currently, Ajit Pawar’s widow Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth Pawar are with the NCP, while Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule and his grandson Rohit Pawar are with the NCP (SP).
Former CM (late) Shankarrao Chavan was with the Congress until his death in 2004. However, his son Ashok Chavan, who served as CM twice (2008-2010), left the Congress and joined the BJP in 2024. Along with wife Amita and daughter Shreejaya, he is currently a BJP MLA. Similarly, the family of veteran Congress leader Shankarrao Mohite-Patil is divided between parties. His son Vijaysingh and grandson Dhairysheel switched from Congress to NCP-SP, while his other son Pratapsingh and grandson Ranjitsingh are with BJP.
Another example of the family of a veteran Congress leader dividing into parties is that of Dattatreya Tatkare. His son Anil Tatkare is with NCP-SP while his grandson has joined BJP. His other son Sunil Tatkare and his children Aniket and Aditi Tatkare are in NCP.
A rare example of division in a family associated with the BJP is the family of Eknath Khadse and Gopinath Munde. Mr Khadse along with his daughter Rohini defected from the saffron party to the NCP-SP, while his daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse remained with the BJP and served as a Union Minister (MoS) in the Modi cabinet. In the case of the late Mr Munde, his daughters Pritam and Pankaja Munde are senior BJP leaders, while his nephew Dhananjay Munde defected to the NCP in 2012 after Mr Munde’s untimely death.
