Mr Sidhu to join AAP and Mrs Sidhu on a path to join Gandhis, Scindias for the sake of politics?

NEW DELHI: Navjot Singh Sidhu created a storm in political circles yesterday by resigning from the membership of Rajya Sabha and the BJP, triggering speculation that he would probably take up an Aam Aadmi Party offer.

However, his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a BJP politician, decided to stick by her party, saying that she will continue to hold her post as parliamentary secretary.

The Sidhus have always shared a difficult relationship with BJP-Akali government in Punjab and have had a common voice. Though currently, they both seem to be aligned to different political parties.

The Sidhus are the not the only ones. There are, in fact, many political families in India whose members represent two different or confronting political parties.

The most popular being the Gandhis. Maneka Gandhi's tryst with politics started when her relationship with Indira Gandhi turned sour after the death of her husband Sanjay. The Gandhi residence treated her as a pariah after Sanjay's demise. A peeved Maneka went ahead and founded a new party, the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch. She lost to Rajiv Gandhi from Amethi in 1984 due to a sympathy wave after Indira's assassination. In 1988, she joined VP Singh's Janata Dal. Maneka and her son Varun Gandhi are now in the BJP.

The next on the list are the Scindias. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is a seasoned BJP leader while Jyotiraditya Scindia (son of her late brother Madhavrao) is a vocal supporter of Rahul Gandhi. There is actually a history of ideological differences in this family. It all started with a rift between mother Vijaya Raje, a BJP star, and Madhavrao. The duo chose to take different political paths, despite a sharing a common background.

Naresh Gujral, son of Inder Kumar Gujral, former Prime Minister of India and Janata Dal member, is a Shiromani Akali Dal party politician and a member of the Parliament of India, representing Punjab in the Rajya Sabha.

In south, DMK president M Karunanidhi suspended his elder son and former union minister M K Azhagiri from the party in a bid to end the tussle between his sons Azhagiri and MK Stalin. Alagiri since then has been a strong critic of Karunanidhi's policies.

Uttar Pradesh also had its share of family feud in a political party when Akhilesh Yadav dared to go against his uncle Shivpal Yadav over induction of gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari. Differences cropped up within the family and Mulayam Singh had to intervene. Akhilesh took a strong a decision against the coronation and put his foot down against Shivpal’s choice.