Family first

Dynasties continue to thrive in Indian politics. Now that the inauspicious period of shraadh is over, politicians have begun to openly campaign for tickets for their relatives in the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. Nowhere is the dynastic assertion for tickets stronger than in Haryana where outgoing Chief Minister Bhoopinder Singh Hooda wants his wife to get the party’s ticket from the Rohtak constituency that he currently represents — Hooda himself has offered to shift to a nearby constituency. Industrialist and Congress MP from Kurukshetra Navin Jindal reportedly wants a ticket for his wife while former State Congress Chief Harpal Singh wants it for his son. And then there is Congress MP Avtar Singh Badana who wants to see his wife become a ‘neta’ in her own right.