Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha will hold a crucial meeting of the legislative party today. BJP has claimed that CM Soren will resign today and install his wife Kalpana Soren as the Chief Minister. While CM Soren has rejected the speculations, the rumour mills have not stopped buzzing. The BJP has claimed that Kalpana Soren may contest from the Gandey seat vacated by the JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmed. This is not the first instance when a wife of a CM may become CM of the state. India has been home to dynasty politics and there have been several occasions when spouses, kins, and relatives took over as the CM of a state.
Tamil Nadu: V. N. Janaki Ramachandran, wife of MG Ramachandran, became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 23 days in 1988 after the demise of MGR. She was the first woman to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. In 1991, J Jayalalithaa became CM of the state. She was one of the closest aides of MGR. Current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin is the son of 2nd Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. He first became Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2009 to 2011.
Bihar: Rabri Devi became the first female Chief Minister of Bihar in 1997. She became CM after her husband Lalu Prasad resigned following the arrest warrant issued against him in corruption charges relating to the Fodder scam. The current Deputy CM of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav is the son of Lalu Yadav.
Jammu and Kashmir: Mehbooba Mufti became the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir after the death of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Her party formed a government in alliance with the BJP. In 2009, Omar Abdullah, son of former CM Farooq Abdullah, became CM of the state.
Uttar Pradesh: Son of former UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, became the CM of UP in 2012. Akhilesh Yadav has been leading the Samajwadi Party since then.
Andhra Pradesh: The current Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is the son of Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy who served as the 14th CM of Andhra between 2004-2009.
Karnataka: HD Kumaraswamy, who served twice as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, though for a brief period, is the son of former CM of the state H. D. Deve Gowda.
Maharashtra: The current Deputy CM Of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar is the nephew of former Maha CM Sharad Pawar.
Jharkhand: The current CM of Jharkhand Hemant Soren is the son of former CM Shibu Soren.
In Odisha, the current CM Naveen Patnaik is the son of former CM Biju Patnaik. These are some of the many examples where the spouses, sons or relatives of Chief Ministers became their successors in a bid to retain power within a family, as alleged by the opposition parties.