Nine Dynasties in new Parliament: Family Pairs

Source: Family pride in Lok Sabha – India – The Times of India

1. Congress: Sonia and Rahul Gandhi – Rae Bareli and Amethi
2. Samajwadi Party: Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh – Mainpuri and Kannauj constituencies in UP
3. BJP: Maneka Gandhi & Varun Gandi: Uttar Pradesh – Aonla & Pilibhit
4. Ajit Singh (Baghpat) and Jayant Choudhury (Mathura)
5. Sharad Pawar & daughter Supriya Sule – Baramati (Maharashtra)
6. Trinamool Congress: Sisir and Subhendu Adhikary – West Bengal (Kanthi in East Midnapur, his son won the Tamluk seat where Nandigram is situated)
7. Karnataka – H D Devegowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy

Missed:

1. Prospective mother-son pair missed out with former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh‘s son Raninder losing from Bhatinda. Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur won from Patiala.
2. BJP: “Gorkha” face Jaswant Singh and son Manvendra could have been another but for the latter’s defeat in Barmer.

Therthal 2009: Top 10 Quotes

1. L.K. Advani: on Manmohan Singh

“The country’s most important address used to be 7 Race Course Road (PM’s official residence) but now it is 10 Janpath (Sonia’s residence). When he wants to take a decision he sends a minister to 10 Janpath to ask for Sonia’s clearance.”

2. Mamata Banerjee: on the Nano launch

“The launch of the Nano was timed keeping in view the approaching Lok Sabha polls. It was motivated. It is a conspiracy against me.”

3. Maneka Gandhi: on Pilibhit speech recording

“The Election Commission has also dismissed the tape as a fake one and it actually is a fake one because Varun has not spoken anything like that.”

4. Manmohan Singh: on Advani calling him the weakest PM

“What is his record? When he was home minister Parliament was attacked, Lal Quila was attacked, an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked and terrorists were rewarded.”

5. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on the BJP for its oft-repeated description of Manmohan Singh as a weak Prime Minister

“The Prime Minister is a leader of the country and not of a party. So, if one disrespects the Prime Minister, he or she disrespects the entire nation”

6. Amar Singh: on CBI playing in the hands of Congress

“CBI is actually Congress Bureau of Investigation … When we were having seat sharing talks (with Congress) in UP, the system was listening to us. But as soon as the alliance broke down and we came closer to Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan, the tone changed.”

7. George Fernandes: on the allegation of gang rape during Gujarat riots

“Is it the first time that someone has been gang raped in India?”

8. Narendra Modi

“UPA alliance is strange: Delhi mein dosti, gaon mein kushti” (They are friends in Delhi and fight in the states)

9. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on BJP candidate Varun Gandhi for his anti-Muslim speeches

“Had I been the country’s home minister, I would have crushed Varun Gandhi under a roller and destroyed him without caring for the consequences for his hate speech against Muslims”

10. Pranab Mukherjee on his perennial number 2 status to his inability to becoming Prime Minister

“To run this country coming from north India and not be fluent in Hindi is totally unacceptable…My total knowledge of Hindi is inadequate. That is number one”