Like Congress, BJP too guilty of dynastic politics?

The rise of the Munde family in Maharashtra politics has put the spotlight on dynastic politics within the Bharatiya Janata Party, even as its top leadership continued to decry the Congress’ dynastic politics. There are numerous instances of dynastic politics at the state and civic body levels.

Here’s a list of some prominent political families of the BJP.

Pankaja Munde-Palve, daughter of the late Gopinath Munde, has won a successive Assembly election from Parli. She defeated her first cousin, Nationalist Congress Party candidate Dhananjay Munde. Her sister, Preetam Munde, won the Lok Sabha by-poll from her father’s constituency of Beed.

Pankaja’s and Preetam’s first cousin, Poonam Mahajan, daughter of Pramod Mahajan, is a Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai North-Central.

Vasundhara Raje is chief minister of Rajasthan. Her son Dushyant Singh is a Lok Sabha MP.

Raje’s sister, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, is the industries minister in Madhya Pradesh. (Vasundhara Raje’s nephew, Jyotiraditya Scindia, is a Congress MP)

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son, Abhishek, is Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon.

Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s son, Anurag Thakur, is Lok Sabha member from Hamirpur.

Maneka Gandhi is a member from Pilbhit in Uttar Pradesh and the Women and Child Development minister in the Modi government. Her son Varun Gandhi is an MP from Sultanpur, UP.

Former UP CM and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh’s son, Rajveer, is an MP from Etah.

Former Delhi CM (late) Sahib Singh Verma’s son, Parvesh, is an MP from Delhi. 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s sister Vandana Sharma lost the Assembly poll from Safidon in Haryana.

Former Karnataka CM and current BJP vice-president B S Yeddyurappa’s son Raghavendra is an MLA from Shikaripura.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj is a general secretary of BJP’s UP unit.

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s son Jayant is an MP from Hazaribagh.

Senior leader Lalji Tandon’s son Ashutosh was elected party MLA from Lucknow East in the recent by-polls to UP Assembly.

Minister for Power, Coal and New and Renewable energy Piyush Goyal is the son of former minister and party treasurer late Ved Prakash Goyal.

Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Culture Surendra Patwa is the nephew of former state CM Sunderlal Patwa.

Ajay Malhotra, son of senior leader V L Malhotra, unsuccessfully contested the Delhi Assembly elections of 2013, as did Rajiv Babbar, son of Delhi BJP leader O P Babbar.

Lalitha Kumaramangalam, National Commission for Women chairperson, is a BJP spokesperson. She is the daughter of socialist leader Mohan Kumaramangalam and sister of former BJP minister P R Kumaramangalam.