South India - Politics

Politics

Politics in South India is dominated by a mix of regional parties and larger national political parties like the Indian National Congress (INC), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). With the exclusion of Karnataka, each state has at least two parties dominating politics in that state..

The Politics of Karnataka is dominated by three major political parties, the Indian National Congress, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Bharatiya Janata Party is in power in the state since May 2008. Jagadish Shettar of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the current chief minister. The Janata Dal has been far more successful in Karnataka than it has been in national politics. National political parties such as the BJP and INC have experienced more comparative success in Karnataka than they have in other states of South India. Karnataka's political environment is dominated by two rival caste groups – the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats.. Karnataka consists of 28 parliamentary constituencies from which 28 members of parliament get elected to the Lok Sabha. Several politicians and bureaucrats from Karnataka have served at the center at various times in different capacities. Deve Gowda, who hails from Hassan served as the Prime minister of India in 1996. C.K. Jaffer Sharief from Bangalore is a veteran Congressman and 9-time MP and former Minister of Railways of Government of India.B. D. Jatti from Bijapur served as the Vice President and also as acting President in the past. S.Nigalingappa was Congress I president.

Pre-independence politics in the Madras Presidency was dominated by the Justice Party and the Indian National Congress. Periyar Ramasami who started the Dravidian movement was elected leader of the Justice Party in 1938 and in 1944 renamed it to Dravidar Kazhagam, with its initial aim being the secession of Dravida Nadu from the rest of India on independence. Following independence, Periyar strongly believed that the party should not participate in elections in the newly created India, something his closest followers disagreed with. In 1948, C. N. Annadurai, a follower of Periyar and a Joint Secretary of Dravidar Kazhagam parted ways with Periyar to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Opposition to INC's political influence over Tamil Nadu gave way to the rise of the DMK which formed its first government in 1968 and again in 1978. The following year, a split in the DMK resulted in the formation of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), led by M. G. Ramachandran. Dravidian parties continue to dominate Tamil Nadu electoral politics - with the national parties,usually aligned as junior partners to the major dravidian parties, AIADMK and DMK. These "Dravidian politics" incorporates elements of Tamil Nationalism and seem to have has struck root only in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu has also contributed to a number of Indian Presidents. The list would include C. Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of India, post independence of 1947: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Indian Vice President and President during a tumultuous period of 1962 to 1967, which saw three prime ministers and two wars: R. Venkataraman, who had the unique distinction of working with four prime ministers, during his term from 1987 to 1992, and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the first Indian scientist to be elected as a President. Prominent politicians from Tamil Nadu who have influenced national politics include K. Kamaraj, who was credited to being a "king maker" who ensured the selection of Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi, and Chidambaram Subramaniam, who is credited with the self-sufficiency in food production in India.

Former Telugu actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR) broke the dominance of the INC in Andhra Pradesh politics. NTR successfully challenged the INC's supremacy in the state and his party was voted into power a total of four times. In 1996, a year after winning the state assembly election by a landslide, a dispute between NTR, his wife Lakshmi Parvati and his immediate family resulted in a split in the TDP. Concerned over undue influence over NTR and his policies, the bulk of the party favoured the family under the leadership of NTR's son-in-law, N Chandrababu Naidu, who later became Chief Minister of the state. Naidu was regarded as a visionary who promoted the growth of information technology in the state. At present, INC and TDP are the major political contenders in the state.

Prominent leaders from Andhra Pradesh who left their mark on Indian national politics would include V. V. Giri, the first president to be voted as a "dissident candidate" in 1969: and his opponentNeelam Sanjiva Reddy, the only President to be elected unopposed in 1977.P. V. Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister from 1992 to 1997,who is credited to being the "father of the Indian economic reform".

Kerala hosts two major political alliances: the United Democratic Front (UDF, led by the Indian National Congress) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)). Kerala numbers among India's most left-wing states. An interesting phenomenon of Kerala politics is the alternate election of Congress and the Communists to power.

E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the first elected chief minister of Kerala, in 1957, is sometimes credited as being the leader of the first democratically elected communist government in the world. He is credited with building the Communist Party of India (Marxist) into a major political force. K. R. Narayanan was the first Malayali and the first Dalit to be elected to the post of President in 1997.