Before Shiv Sena, parties that saw defection, birth of new outfit

From Samajawadi Party to YSR Congress Party, here is the list of parties which were formed after the split.

Eknath Shinde leaves becomes next CM of Maharashtra after leaving Uddhav Thackeray (Representational photo/file pic)

5 min readNew DelhiJun 30, 2022 11:05 PM IST First published on: Jun 30, 2022 at 11:03 PM IST

Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Thursday replaced Uddhav Thackeray and became the next chief minister of Maharashtra after engineering a split in the party with over 50 MLAs taking his side and stitching an alliance with the BJP to form the new government.

It is, however, unclear whether Shiv Sena rebels will float a new party or be allowed by the Election Commission of India to use Shiv Sena’s name and party symbol.

Split in a party, whether in ruling or opposition and formation of a new party or alliance, is not new in the world’s largest democracy. In fact, many regional parties like AIADMK, RJD, JD(S), JJP, among others, are breakaway factions.

Here is the list of parties which were formed after the split.

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) traces its history back to 1964 when it split away from the pre-Independence Communist Party of India (CPI) over India-China war and subsequent arrest of several communist leaders in the Congress regime. Top leadership of the then CPI wanted the party workers to support Congress and late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru but several partymen were opposed to the Congress ideology and wanted to remain away. This led to over 100 leaders dissenting the CPI and forming CPI(M), which presently is ruling Kerala in alliance with several small parties.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)

In 1972, famous Tamil cinema actor M G Ramachandran and leader in Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam revolted against the DMK supremo Karunanidhi over the issue of party funds. He left the party and founded All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which defeated the DMK in 1977 and remained undefeated for the next 10 years till 1987. After the death of Ramachandran, the party was ruled by another Tamil cinema star Jayalalitha till her death in 2016.

Samajwadi Party (SP)

Mulayam Yadav, the SP supremo left Janata Dal in 1992 to profess socialist ideology of veteran socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and uplift members of backward classes and Muslims. He formed his first government in 1993 in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party after gaining support from both Muslims and Dalits. Mulayam had supported Muslims in the turmoil after the demolition of Babri Masjid. The SP is the single largest opposition party in the present Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)

The RJD was founded in 1997 in New Delhi when several Parliamentarians, including Lalu Prasad Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Mohammad Shahabuddin, broke away from the parent Janata Dal, alleging sidelining of backward classes and Muslims and formed new political outfit Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) with Lalu Prasad Yadav becoming its first president. The RLD under the leadership of Lalu ruled Bihar for many years and also found a political vote bank in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. The RJD is presently the principal opposition party in the current Bihar Assembly.

Janata Dal (Secular)

It was formed in 1999 when several leaders including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda dissented from the Janata Dal over former Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel’s decision to extend support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance at Centre. The JD(S) gained prominence when it became a constituent of ruling alliance in Karnataka in 2004. In 2019, JD(S) again came to power under the leadership of Kumaraswamy after allying with the Congress.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi

Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao, founded Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2001 after he resigned from the Deputy Speaker post of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (before bifurcation). Rao, who was with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before, alleged that the TDP was not serious about the issue of creation of Telangana and floated his own party to achieve the goal. It registered a landslide victory in the 2018 Telangana State Assembly Elections.

Y S R Congress Party (YSR Congress)

After the death of popular Congress chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) in a helicopter crash in 2009, his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy launched a ‘yatra’ in Andhra Pradesh to condole the death of his father’s supporters who died of suicide after hearing the news of the helicopter crash.

However, Congress was uncomfortable with the yatra due to political reasons and asked Mohan Reddy to call it off, which was disobeyed by him. Soon he left Congress along with his supporters and formed a new party–Y S R Congress Party. It is in power in Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of Rajasekhara Reddy.

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)

The JJP was launched in 2018 by Dushyant Chautala, grandson of Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Prakash Chautala due to a feud in the Chautala clan. It came against the backdrop of Dushyant and his younger brother Digvijay getting expelled from the INLD over ‘indiscipline’.

Om Prakash Chautala and his son Prakash have been convicted in a teacher recruitment scam and are behind bars. Currently, the JJP is in the coalition with BJP in Haryana and Dushyant holds the post of the deputy CM.