Opinion: Opinion | Udhayanidhi To Akhilesh, How India’s Political ‘Sons’ Have Fared

The latest move by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to appoint his son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, as his deputy, completes the process of the formal anointment of a political heir for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The party’s symbol’, a ‘rising sun’ behind two mountains, lends it some sharp symbolism.

After the 46-year-old leader was inducted into the Council of Ministers in 2022 by his father, the succession plan seemed like only the natural next step. Stalin himself was handed over the baton in a similar fashion by his father M.K. Karunanidhi after serving as his deputy from 2009 to 2011.

However, the father and the son followed very different trajectories in terms of their entry into politics. Spending two decades as an understudy, Stalin’s journey began with him forming the DMK youth wing. After that, he went on to become the Mayor of Chennai, before joining his father’s Cabinet and later being named as his deputy. On the other hand, Udhayanidhi joined politics after a stint in the Tamil film industry as a producer and actor. His entry, though recent, was powerful. Credited with energising party workers and drawing youth towards the DMK, Udhayanidhi now has enough time to take the load off his father and inject some young energy into the campaign ahead of the 2026 assembly elections in the state.

Barring the years between 2011 and 2021, Tamil Nadu has largely seen revolving-door politics. That is, the governments here have alternated between the DMK and All India Anna DMK (AIADMK). The latter is working to re-establish itself after the vacuum created by the death of its stalwart leader J. Jayalalithaa. 

The Gowdas, Naidus And Raos

Other states in southern India – except Kerala – have their own ‘rising sons’. From Karnataka’s Gowda family, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s two sons, H.D. Kumaraswamy and H.D. Revanna, are active politicians. Kumaraswamy, now a Union Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, is a two-time chief minister. 

Both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have seen the sons of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao play an active role in state politics. While Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, is back in his father’s Council of Ministers, Rao’s son, K.T. Rama Rao, was first the IT Minister in the previous Telangana government and is now busy moulding his party, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), in its opposition role. However, both Rama Rao and Lokesh haven’t been designated as their fathers’ number-twos.

Failed Experiments In North India

But similar experiments in northern India have made little difference. Fifteen years back, Parkash Singh Badal inducted his son Sukhbir Singh into his Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) (SAD-B) government as a deputy chief minister. The step yielded brief success too when the campaign led by Sukhbir Singh brought the party to power in the 2012 assembly elections. The victory was unique as it was after decades that Punjab had backed the same party in two successive elections. But things have only gone downhill after that. Unable to retain its hold, the Akali Dal under Sukhbir Badal today has to contend with a relatively new force in the state, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Lals Of Haryana

In Haryana, the two sons of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal could sustain neither the political legacy of their father nor the fortunes of his Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). While his one son, Kuldeep Bishnoi, is today with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the other son, Chander Mohan, is with the Congress, with which the HJC merged in 2016. Similarly, legendary Chief Minister Bansi Lal’s sons were in different parties and failed to replicate their father’s success. 

The story of the family of the third ‘Lal’ in Haryana politics, Devi Lal, is different. In 1989, when he joined the V.P Singh Cabinet at the Centre, Devi Lal anointed his son Om Prakash Chautala as his successor. Many still remember how Devi Lal shot back at a person who questioned the move: “Then who should it be, your son?”. Chautala went on to become the chief minister of Haryana four times, though only once with a full term. 

The transfer of power through generations is never easy. Mulayam Singh Yadav realised that, too, when the rise of his son Akhilesh Yadav as chief minister sparked a bitter feud in the Yadav clan. Embers of that rebellion continue to burn to this day. 

(K.V. Prasad is a senior Delhi-based journalist)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author