It has been reported that Dr. Manmohan Singh and his family are upset over the Prime Minister’s half-brother Daljeet Singh joining the Bharatiya Janata Party(“ >Manmohan saddened by brother’s decision to join BJP ,” April 26). There are numerous instances of families joining different political parties — including Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan, Digvijay Singh and Lakshman Singh. Dr. Singh must have felt bad and embarrassed and expressed his dissatisfaction over his brother’s loyalty to the BJP, but this is beyond his control.
Vijay D. Patil,
Pune
A politician’s sibling or close relative joining a party competing with the former’s, is neither new nor unheard of. It is not clear why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh feels unhappy about his brother joining the BJP, or why the party which has acquired the new entrant is so excited about it and thinks it has scored a political point. The media, too, are overreacting to this. There are instances of couples living under the same roof believing in different political ideologies and pursuing them freely. Before going to the same booth together to cast our vote on April 24, my wife, whose political views are different from mine, and I discussed briefly the merits and demerits of the main parties contesting. If people from the same family opt for different candidates and parties, it is but a signal that democracy is maturing.
Sivamani Vasudevan,
Chennai
