Now, nearly two months later Champai resigned as CMhe has decided to pay the JMM leadership back in kind by joining rival BJP with months to go for the Assembly elections in the state. In India’s short political history, Champai was not the first leader to step in as a step-gap arrangement for their party leadership. Neither is he the first to rebel.

Gulzarilal Nanda

An MP from Gujarat’s Sabarkantha constituency, Nanda was first sworn in as PM after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on May 27, 1964. Nanda, who had initially served as the Minister for Labor and Employment in the Nehru Cabinet, was the Minister for Home Affairs. at the time of the first PM’s demise. This made him for all purposes the second in command, and hence the natural pick for the Acting PM’s job.

However, less than a fortnight later, the baton passed to Lal Bahadur Shastri, who took over as the PM on June 9, 1964, after Congress MPs elected him as the party leader. Nanda nominated Shastri, and Morarji R Desai, seen as his major antagonist in the contest for the PM’s post, seconded him. Shastri had been a minister without portfolio in the Nehru Cabinet.

On January 11, 1966 – just one-and-a-half years after he took over as PM – Shastri passed away in Tashkent, while on a trip to the erstwhile USSR for peace talks with Pakistan. Nanda was again sworn in as the PM.

His second tenure lasted again less than a fortnight, until January 24, when Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi became the new PM after the Congress elected her as leader. Morarji Desai, who had thrown his hat in the ring, got 169 votes against Indira’s 355.

Nanda, who had worked as a research scholar on labor problems at the University of Allahabad (1920-1921) and as Professor of Economics at the National College (Bombay) in 1921, before joining the freedom struggle, resigned from the Congress on April 10. , 1977. This was just one year after the Indira Gandhi government called off a two-year Emergency.

In a statement, Nanda said, “I had earlier resisted pressure from friends and well-wishers to quit the party and make common cause with those who ranged themselves against it as a mark of anger and protest.”

While he continued in the party as he had faith in the Congress as a force of responsible opposition, he added: “… conditions that have developed within the party in the last few days have made it unbearable. Growing dissensions and acute hostilities among warring factions have given me a severe jolt.”

Nanda passed away in 1998, at the age of 99 – a year after receiving the Bharat Ratna, awarded by a non-Congress government.

Rabri Devi

Following an arrest warrant against him in the fodder scam case, on July 25, 1997, RJD head and Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad resigned but picked his wife Rabri Devi, who till then had stayed away from political life, as his replacement. Rabri stayed in the post till President’s rule was imposed in the state in 1999.

While Lalu had been released from jail on bail by then, there were other ongoing cases against him and Rabri resumed office the next year after President’s rule was revoked. In the Assembly polls that followed, Rabri was the face of the RJD, and went on to be CM till 2005, after which JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar’s reign began.

In January this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) named Rabri and daughters Misa Bharti (a Rajya Sabha MP) and Hema Yadav in its first chargesheet in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land-for-jobs racket.

Rabri is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the MLC. With Lalu ailing, the reins of the RJD have passed on to their son Tejashwi Prasad.

Jitan Ram Manjhi

In Bihar’s recent political history, Manjhi was the second leader to be picked out of relative obscurity and made the CM. If that obscurity was a big qualifying factor for Manjhi at the time, the other was his loyalty to JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar.

It was 2014. After the JD(U) performed poorly in the Lok Sabha elections swept by the BJP, Nitish, then the Bihar CM, unexpectedly resigned, taking responsibility for the results. He named Manjhi, a Dalit leader, as his replacement.

Ten months later, with the storm over the JD(U)’s Lok Sabha performance having blown over, Nitish asked Manjhi to resign to make way for his return as the CM.

In a setback for Nitish, Manjhi refused, leading to his expulsion from the JD(U). The Governor then asked Manjhi to seek a vote of confidence, and the BJP offered his government support, sensing an opportunity for itself. However, Manjhi chose to resign and went on to launch his own party, the HAM-S, which promptly joined the BJP-led NDA.

After several shifts in alignment, the HAM-S fought the recent Lok Sabha polls under the NDA umbrella, including the JD(U). Manjhi won the Gaya seat and his partnership with the NDA was rewarded, with him getting the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry.

O Panneerselvam

Now expelled from the AIADMK, Panneerselvam or OPS has been the CM of Tamil Nadu three times. In two of these instances, he stepped in for AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa.

In September 2001, a Supreme Court verdict struck down Jayalalithaa’s appointment as CM and MLA, citing provisions of the Representation of the People Act, as she was facing conviction in a land deal case. The case was filed in 1991 by former MP Subramaniam Swamy, who had alleged that Jayalalithaa and her long-time aide VK Sasikala had bought land from the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) and sold it to private firms at an undervalued rate. She was disqualified from contesting elections.

Jayalalithaa had to step down and she named OPS as her replacement. His term lasted six months. In 2003, the DMK approached the Supreme Court for transferring the trial in Jayalalithaa’s case to Karnataka on the ground that a fair trial was not possible in Tamil Nadu with her at the helm.

In September 2014, a special court convicted Jayalalithaa and three others in the case and awarded four years’ prison term as well as a Rs 100 crore fine. On September 29, Jayalalithaa moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the conviction and sought bail.

The same day, a tearful OPS was sworn in as her successor after being unanimously elected as the leader of the AIADMK legislature party. This time the term lasted less than a year, with the Karnataka High Court acquitting Jayalalithaa in May 2015 and clearing the decks for her to return to power.

OPS finally took over as full-time CM after Jayalalithaa’s demise in December 2016.

After Jayalalithaa’s death, OPS, who was tasked to handle the role of CM by Sasikala, resigned in February 2017 citing issues with Sasikala. A power struggle ensued and Sasikala managed to get the MLAs on her side and replaced OPS with Eppadi K Palaniswami or EPS as CM. There were now two factions of the AIADMK, led by OPS and EPS.

In a surprise move in August 2017, the two came together to oust Sasikala. But in the process, OPS was forced to reconcile with EPS and become deputy CM. The dual leadership model could not last long. In July 2022, the general council of the AIADMK elected EPS as the interim general secretary, with OPS being expelled from the party.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, the DMK-led alliance came to power by winning 158 of the 234 states in the Assembly. Since then, the DMK has been going from strength to strength while the AIADMK has been struggling.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, OPS contested from Ramanathapuram as officially an Independent, but backed by the BJP. He lost to Navas Kani, DMK ally IUML’s candidate, by 1.66 lakh votes.