Akhilesh and Tejashwi emerge from the shadows as true inheritors

Akhilesh Yadav could not beat BJP in Uttar Pradesh this year as Tajashwi Yadav in neighbouring Bihar two years ago but despite their failure to wrest political power, they emerged undisputed leaders of their respective parties - Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal. 

Two factors determine the transfer of political legacy from fathers to sons, from husbands to wives or among brothers - acceptability among voters and party workers. 

MG Ramachandran's political legacy went to J Jayalalithaa despite the best efforts of his wife Janki Ramachandran who could remain chief minister of Tamil Nadu for just over three weeks after the death of her husband. 

In DMK, MK Stalin inherited his father M Karunanidhi's legacy as party workers and voters of the state - both sided with him. 

In Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray emerged as party leader after Balasaheb Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray had to leave the party to form his own Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. And now after becoming chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav has left Raj far behind. 

Chirag Paswan will have to wait till the next elections - Lok Sabha as well as the Bihar assembly - and get approval from voters therein to show that he is the true inheritor of his father Ramvilas Paswan's legacy. 

Tejashwi too faced challenges from at least two siblings - Tej Pratap and Misa Bharti but after the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, the stamp of voters affirmed that he will be the sole inheritor of Lalu Prasad Yadav's political legacy. 

In the case of Akhilesh, he became chief minister in 2012 as anointed inheritor of Mulayam Singh Yadav's legacy but at the fag end of his term he faced a resurgent challenge from his uncle Shivpal Yadav. 

Shivpal Yadav lost the battle and went out of Samajwadi Party to form his own political platform. Both came together in 2022 to put a unified front against BJP. But a resurgent Samajwadi Party could not dislodge BJP from power in Uttar Pradesh even though it managed to increase seats and vote share in comparison to its 2017 performance. 

Uncle and nephew are on warpath again as Shivpal is toying with the idea of going with the BJP but the question as to who is going to be the true inheritor of Mulayam Singh's legacy has been settled by all accounts and there is no challenge to Akhilesh's leadership within the party despite losing elections for the second time -first in 2017 and now again in 2022.

Two Yadav chieftains of the 90s - Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh - were central figures in the Mandal politics of the Hindi heartland. Both came of VP Singh-led Janata Dal to form their own respective political parties - Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party. 

Falling health and charges of corruption (mainly in the case of Lalu Prasad) have made them the pale shadows of powerful political figures they used to be. 

But in the last two years, both Akhilesh and Tejashwi have emerged from the shadows of their respective fathers to carry forward their legacy in years to come.