76

CHAPTER - IV

COALITION POLITICS - THE ROLE OF REGIONAL PARTIES

The term coalition comes from the Latin Word "coalitio" and from 'coalescre,' which means 'to grow together". According to Oxford dictionary 'coahtion" means uniting or union of political parties for a special purpose. The coalitions have been formed among the human beings since the begiiming of the human society.

"When man was a hunter, he formed coalitions in the face of a common threat. With the discovery of agriculture and the emergence of the first surplus there was again a need for cooperation to make a success of barter economy. World War II was won by coalition of allies"', even the Gulf War and the Afghan war. "The coalitions in politics are not fundamentally different from joint ventures in business"'

In multi-party democracies, coalition governments are a common feature. In though we have a multi-party democracy the Party monopolized the Indian politics uninterruptedly till 1977. For the first time the coalition was formed in the in 1977, as there was a 'hung parliament' the non-Congress parties could come together irrespective of their ideological difference and formed Government at the Centre for the first time soon after the elections.

COALITION GOVERNMENTS IN THE WEST.

"In the European continent coalitions have been a routine feature of public life in the past 50 years. Yet these nations have continued to prosper. The biggest and riches Germany, has been ruled more or less continuously by coalitions in the entire period. And the average coalition lasted 37 months""

Switzerland, which has a higher per capita income than US, had institutionalized coalitions. It is a plural society like India where the political partii

' Sunday Times of India, May 12 1996 p. 12 2.idbip.l2 77 vigorously represent the interest of the three major languages two religions (Catholicism and Protestantism) It is traditional therefore the four largest parties to come together after an election and from a coalition. Poland too had numerous coalitions."^'"" Poland" s economy boomed despite numerous coalitions. The families have been typically formed coalitions through marriage. The World War II was won by a coalition of strong allies. Two firms in a competition will sometimes join hands to pursue a common objective. A joint venture is successfiil only when it merges the differences to strengthen each other.

"Britain had coahtion governments more than once, during the second half of the 19* century as well as during 1915-1945. Winston Churchill'" govenunent during the Second World War was a national government comprising all the main political parties. The British practice is not against the alliance or; partnership in government making though it has an established two party system.'"^

"Coalition government is much more widespread in west European countries. France, Belgium, West Germany, Holland, Denmark, Italy etc have multiparty systems and a coalition government is the norm rather than exception in them. Switzerland of course is the most outstanding example of coalition government sjrice 1959. It has had coalition govenmient uninterruptedly. All these govemmejifs have been second to none in providing political stability"

COALITION POLITY - INEVITABLITY UNDER FEDERAL STRUCTURE

The coalition governments may be formed in the countries where there are varied diversities among the people. In largest populated and geographically large countries like India, where there are wide ranges of diversities such as linguistic, religious, regional, caste etc, naturally hung parliaments are inevitable. But the coalition governments are formed in the western countries like Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Deiraiark, Italy etc, though they are having smaller size pollution

3..Ibid. p.l2 Sriram Maheshwari "Political Development in Indian" Concept Publishing Company, , 1984 p 73, ^ Ibid. p. 73. 78 with almost cultural, social, religious, linguistic homogeneity. It may be because of multi party systems and unitary form of governments, or enlightened people, the coalition governments have been formed.

The aim of coalition is generally to secure a working majority in the legislature to form the government whenever a hung parliament occurs. To avoid a constitutional crisis or a midterm election the likeminded parties come together to form the government. Sometimes there may be a pre-poU alliance presuming that a hung parliament may occur. "Coalition politics may be viewed either as a contingency of the democratic choice or as a stop gap remedy for certain inherent differences of the democratic process itself'^

The coalition politics are the result of too many political parties contesting the elections and influencing the voters on the basis of religion, region, caste, party ideology etc. Every party tries to divide the people on the sentiments of the people to possible extent. Failure of standing National Parties, or anti-people"s policies of the ruling party etc, which leads to a fractured mandate in the elections is also one of the reasons for the formation of coalition governments.

The coalition governments are formed generally when no party gets absolute majority to form a government. This is due to the voters are indecisive and the votes who are divided among all the parties that turned into an unclear verdict. S.K. Jain observes that in either case it is looked upon as the resultant of voter's indecision which again may be described to a host of social economic and systemic factors, which appears to be on solid mass." Coalition is a combination of a body or parts into one whole. In the strict political sense, "the coalition is use for an alliance or temporary union for joint action of various powers or states and also of the union into a single government of distinct parties, or members of distinct parties" According to Ogg. "The term coalition as employed in political parties or at all events where members of such parties unite to form a government or ministry."

Contemporary India, S.K.Jain (Edit) "Nataji institute of Sub - continental studies" New Delhi, p 29. ^ ibid p 29. 79

S.K.Jain also observes "The system of coalition has certain important implications. Firstly, coalitions are formed for the sake of some reward, material of psychic. Secondly a coalition implies the existence of at least two partners. Thirdly, the underlying principle of a coalition system stands on the simple fact of a temporary conjunction of specific interests. Frothily, coalition players and groups dissolve, and form new ones. Fifthly, the keynote of coalition politics is compromise and a rigid dogma has no place in it. Sixthly, a coalition government works on the basis of a minimum program. Which may not be ideal for each partner of the coalition politics is its highest expression. Seventhly, pragmatism and not ideology is the hallmark of coalition politics. Finally, the purpose of coalition adjustment is to seize power it may r\^^ seek to stake its claim for the formation of a ministry or for pulling a minority down" In India the coalition governments are being formed due to the emergence of regional parties in many states and winning considerable number of seats in Lok Sabh^ elections. SEIZ COALITION POLITICS: A PRE -INDEPENDENT SCENARIO IN INDIA.

In Indian context coalition governments are not new to the nation. If we go back to the provincial elections, which were held/in April 1937 in Punjab and Sindh Provinces, no party got absolute majorityyto form governments as a result coalition governments were formed for the first time. The Congress Party obtained majority in seven provinces out of eleven provinces. In rest of the four states coalition governments were formed. In 1946 the interim government at the Centre was itself a coalition government, which was led by Jawaharlal Nehru. The Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha etc supported the Congress Party. These coalition governments were a remarkable success because the ministers worked with great dedication, spirit of Nationalism and patriotism.

COALITION POLITICS: A POST-INDEPENDENT SCENARIO IN INDIA.

The first ever coalition government was formed after independence in PEPSU (Patiala, and East Punjab States Union). It was a class B State until 1956 before it was

^ ibid p 30. 80 merged with Punjab under the States Reorganization Act). No party could muster a majority in the first ever-state Assembly elections, which were held in 1952, consisting and other parties. But due to lack of coordination and ideological homogeneity, the coalition government merely lasted for eleven months and broke up in March 1953. It was the first unsuccessful coalition at the state level in India.

Federal coalitions between parties have also become constant feature of the political system. Congress party's dominance at the centre began to wand after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. Critics have observed, "Congress became a less democratic and more centralized Party. The 1967 general elections marked the beginning of the end of Congress governments in the states on a large scale. Congress continued to neglect the inner party democracy and to ignore regional sensitivities."'

The regional parties played a very important role in forming coalitions at the centre in India. The Regional Parties became very strong in states. So they have played a decisive role at national level in rescuing the central governments. Following are the coalition govenmients formed at the centre since 1969:

First Coalition Government.

In November 1969 under the leadership of , the Congress government at the centre lost its majority duty the split in the party. Sixty-two members of Congress in the declared their opposition to Mrs. Gandhi's leadership and formed a party called Congress (O). The govenmient's strength was reduced to 228 from 290 in the 523 members of House. "But the government could manage to muster the support from 24 members of DMK, 24 members of CPI and three members of Akah Dal and the Muslim league and some independents. This was the first coalition government of the Congress Party at the centre. "In September 1970 Indira Gandhi moved a constitutional amendment in the parliament for abolition of privy purses and privileges of the former rulers of the princely states. The amendment was very narrowly defeated in the , upon which a Presidential Order abohshed privy purses. The Supreme Court had struck down the order saying that it

' Francine R Franket (Edit) "Transforming India", Oxford University Press. New Delhi, 2000, p.l79. was unconstitutional. In December 1970 the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided not to continue any further with her minority government and recommended the president to dissolve the house before its completion of the house.""' After the split Congress party was named after Congress (R). The regional parties like DMK, Akali Dal Played a crucial role in supporting the Congress at the centre.

Second Coalition Government.

The second Federal coalition government was formed in 1977 after the general elections as the opposition parties defeated Congress. This is also a first Non- Congress government at the centre that came into power interrupting the monopoly of the Congress rule at the centre after independence in 27 years. Some strong and powerful leaders defected from the Congress Party and either formed the regional parties or joined the regional parties in some states played a key role in defeating the Congress party and forms the Coalition government.

The was formed by the merger of Congress (O) the B.L.D (Bhratiya ) Jana Sangh etc. These four constituents has agreed to merge and fought the election on a single manifesto and on a shared symbol and won 298 seats, where as Congress could bag only 154 seats. became the consciences candidate for post of Prime Minister.

However the Janata Party ruled for about two years. A power struggle broke out between the two strongest Janata Party constituents the BLD and the Jana Sangh. 's Lok Dal and George Fernandez faction of the socialist could not adjust with the Government. As a result, the Janata Coalition collapsed in July 1979. So the first non-Congress coalition experiment was miserably failed. The regional parties also played a decisive role in fall of the government.

Third Coalition Government A new coalition government was formed with Mr. Charan Singh as Prime Minister in October 1979. This coalition included leaders and groups from the entire

' Partha Chatterjee, "State and Politics in India", Oxford uni\ersity Press New Delhi-1977. P 19. 82 spectrum of Indian Politics including CPI, CPM. The Congress party supported the government from outside. The party led by Charan Singh was a party of defectors, and it was not recognized as a party in the Lok Sabha. It did not enjoy absolute majority. The Congress (I) has withdrawn the support to Charan Singh then Charan Singh recommended the President to dissolve the house and announced the mid-term elections.

Fourth Coalition Government After a decade's gap, fourth coalition government was formed under the leadership of V.P.Singh, who turned rebel to the Congress and formed Jana Morcha initially and expanded it as bringing together all the scattered former Janta Party leaders. Again Congress was ultimate target to dislodge from the power. The Bofors scandal helped the opposition's muscles.

The Ninth Lok Sabha elections in 1989 turned out to be a second hung Parliament, though Congress (I) emerged as a single largest party with 198 seats, it had no supporters to stake its claim to form a government as there was anti Congress wave and an unprecedented non-Congress parties unity prevailed in the country. The non - Congress parties formed with the support of Regional Parties. The National Front emerged as the second largest party in the Parliament obtained support of BJP from outside. The CPM joined the government at the Centre for the first time. The government remained in power for only eleven months due to withdrawal of support by BJP in the wake of arrest of its leader L.K.Advani who disobeyed the prohibitory orders of government in Bihar during his Rath Yatra. The controversial decision to implement Mandal Commission recommends and the Mandir-Masjid issues troubled the coalition government.

Fifth Coalition Government Chandra Shekher, one time famous "Young Turk" who was the dissident leader of the National Front, staked his claim to form the government with outside support of Congress (1), AIADMK, BJP, Muslim League, Akali Dal, National Conference and a few independents soon after of the fall of V.P.Singh government. But within a short span the government collapsed due to withdrawal of support by the Congress (I). 83

Sixth Coalition government:

In the 1991 general elections no party could get absolute majority. It resulted into a hung parliament again. Congress bagged 252 seats and emerged as a single largest party in the parliament the Congress Party formed a coalition government with support of AIADMK its allay in Tamil Nadu under the leadership of P.V.Narsimha Rao. Later on Narsimha Rao engineered a split in TDP and gained the support of 13 MPs of it as it is often referred as a minority government. The Jharkhand Mukthi Morchas 6 MPs , Sikkim Sangram Parishad, IMUL, (Chiman Bhai Patel of Gujarat) Kerala Congress also extended their support to Narsimha Rao in times of trouble. As there was no alternative to the Congress it could rule for five years. But the government faced many no confidence motions. But Rao could manipulate them successfully. Again the regional parties played a key role at the national level for stabilizing the Federal government.

Seventh Coalition Government In 1996 general elections once again repeated the hung parliament as no party obtained clear verdict from the electorate. Some of the likeminded non- Congress National parties and regional parties had joined together and formed and established government at the centre. The United Front led by Janata Dal with combination of Left and regional parties Hke Telugu Desam, DMK, National Conference, Akali Dal, AGP, Tamil Manila Congress etc, formed Government at the Centre with support of Congress Party. Significantly after the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6'*^ 1991 the political system has been dived into secular and non-secular parties. The secular parties have come together and formed the government at the centre. It was a 13 party coalition. The Convener of the front was a regional party leader Chandra Babu Naidu of , who turned as a King Maker. The personality clashes among the leaders brought difference. "The steering committee had become a 'super cabinet' and many of the coalition leaders were trying to act as super Priminister"". On the other hand Congress president

" Contemporary India. (Edit) "Netaji institute of Sub continental studies" p. 35. 84

Sitaram Kesari also acted as a King Maker. On April.20"1997 Congress withdrew its support to United Front consequently the Deva Gowada government had resigned.

Eighth coalition Government: After the fall of Deva Gowada's government, the United Front coalition government led by I.K.Gujaral after a brief political crisis. The United Front Convener had initiated talks with Congress Party Chief to install a new government after prolonged negotiations and made Mr Gujaral as Prime Minister.

However in the wake of Jain Commission report on 's assassination the Congress Party demanded that the DMK ministers must be dropped from the cabinet. The Jain Commission which probed into the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case said that the DMK supported the LTTE in assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu. But this demand was not accepted by the United Front leaders; therefore the Congress withdrew its support to the united front government which led to the mid-term elections to the Lok Sabha in 1988.1t was just a 18 month long coalition government.

Ninth Coalition Government: In 1998 midterm elections once again the electorate had given a fractured mandate. No party or no front could come close to the magic figure. However BJP turned as a single largest party for the first time in the history of parliament due to the pre-poll alliance with the regional parties in many states. BJP formed National Democratic Alliance with 17 parties in which many of them were regional parties. It formed government though it did not touch the magic figure. To muster the support the BJP offered the cabinet berths to the regional parties.

The coalition partners were AIADMK, Biju Janata Dal, Samata Party, Trinamul Congress, HVP, INLD, and Telugu Desam Party etc. However this government was defeated on the floor the House by one vote, which plunged the nation for another midterm poll within 13 months. The BJP led National Democratic Alliance could gather the support of only 14 Regional Parties at the time of collapse of its government. This is the second time failure of the NDA coalition government due to withdrawal of the support of Regional Parties to BJP. 85

Tenth Coalition Government: The results of the mid-term elections to the Lok Sabha turned out to hung parliament again continuously since 1989 consecutively Fifth time. The Thirteenth Lok Sabha was resembled the previous Lok Sabha changing a few faces. Again BJP emerged as a single largest party. Some more regional parties have joined the coalition. A twenty-three party coalition was formed under the Vajpayee's Leadership. The tenth Lok Sabha faced many threatens from its allies at various occasions. Due to the withdrawal of support by Jaya Lalitha"s AIADMK the Vajpayee's government was plunged into minority. The tenth coalition government had to go for elections six months before the completion of its term. At the same time one of the major supporters of NDA the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh was also facing a rough weather in the state. Farmers' suicides were at the rise, Naxals attacked Chandra Babu Naidu at Thirupathi where he sustained serious injuries and escaped from a big tragedy. Opposition became very strong; Congress Party emerged powerful under the leadership of Y.S.Rajashekar Reddy. There was criticism that there is no security for the Chief Minister and what about a common man. Chandra Babu recommends the Governor to dissolve the Assembly as he has to give explanation about his attack. Babu also asked the PM Vajpayee to dissolve the Parliament and go for snap poll.

Eleventh Coalition Government: The Eleventh coalition Government was formed by the UPA (United Progress Alliance) under the chairmanship of Sonia Gandhi after the 2004 general elections. This coalition supported by about 20 regional parties. The National Parties CPI(M), CPI also supported from outside. The major supporters were Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, - , Trinamul Congress of Mamata Benergy, Nationalist Congress of Shard Pawar, D.M.K of Karunanidhi, TRS of Chandrashekar, and National Conference of Farook AbduUa etc. joined the UPA. The Samaj Wadi Party and B.S.P of also supported from outside. For about 30 MP"s support to UPA the CPI (M) took the Speaker's Post. 86

COALITION GOVERNMENTS AND THE ROLE OF REGIONAL PARTIES

Since last three decades, the regional parties have been playing a predominant and decisive role in the national politics. Their existence becomes inevitable for the National Parties to continue in the power. For the first time, the Regional Parties extended their support to Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1969 when Congress Party split into Congress (R) and Congress (O). Since then they have been playing the role of King Maker in the Indian Politics except in 1980 and 1985 general elections i.e. seventh and eight Lok Sabha respectively.

The political decisions of the Congress and other national parties neglecting regional interests and demands, domination of Hindi belt in Indian Politics led to the rise of regional parties, especially non-Hindi speaking states except . They have strengthened their base by whipping up regional sentiments. After 1996 the regional parties have evolved to the extent of determining the central government as a result of hung parliament.

In 1980's many states have been concurred by regional parities. The rise of Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh under the charismatic leadership of N T Rama Rao gave inspiration to many political leaders to start their regional out-fits in their states. The Telugu Desam Party for the first time emerged as single largest opposition party with 30 seats in the parliament in 1995 after the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. A regional party, getting that position in parliament is a rare case in the parliamentary history. The efforts made by NTR to bring together regional parties and non-Congress parties led to a revolution in the history of Indian Political scenario. The AGP in Assam, Biju Janata Dal in Orissa, in Karanataka under Hegde, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, (HVP), and (INLD) in Haryana stretched their wings and became active in politics. The UF government- had come to symbolize strong regional aspirations, comprising regional parties that hold offices in many states.

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^ o 87 and competition for the national parties and became successful in many states. The numbers of parties recognized by the election commission are shown in the above table. The registered parties are also increasing as alternatives to the national parties. The above table indicates that there have been a declining percentage of votes to the national parties and increasing the percentage of votes to the regional parties. Table - 3 Declining the popularity of National Parties?

YEAR National %of State %of Registered %of Parties Votes Parties Votes Parties Votes 1977 5 84.28 18 8.79 39 0.74 1980 6 - - 2.87 - 4.1 1984 7 76.20 18 8.79 9 0.33 1989 8 76.80 20 9.06 89 3.28 1996 8 69.11 30 21.34 171 3.29 1999 7 67.11 40 26.93 122 3.22

Source: Election Commission Reports 1977 - 1999.

BJP in its National Executive meeting decided to have pact with the regional parties in the elections in various states in 1996. This gave a tremendous result in the elections for BJP in 1999 elections. Congress too recognized the significance of regional parties and made arrangements to share seats and contest in the elections with like-minded parties in various states. Congress had realized the importance of Regional Parties long back. It had an electoral alliance with the AIADMK under MG Rama Chandran's leadership in Tamil Nadu. Under the agreement between them, the AIADMK contests more seats in Assembly elections and the Congress contests more seats in the Parliament elections. In Kerala there are always collation governments being formed. The Congress Party always having alliance with the regional parties there.

Since 1996 the Regional Party leaders played a key role in deciding the Prime Minister of India and the policies of the central government. On the other hand the Regional parties too aspiring to have a pact with the national parties to defect their rivals in their respective states. For instance the TDP, Shiv Sena, HVP, INLD, Akali Dal etc had an alliance with BJP, Janata Dal and other national parties. At the same time they can also play an important role at the national level and even share power get Ministerial berths if the coalition government is formed at the centre. For instance, the DMK, AIADMK, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Biju Janata Dal Samata Party, TDP etc. enjoyed the power at the centre. In 1999 the TDP even got the acquired Lok Sabha Speaker Post for its support to BJP from outside, after the tragic death of Speaker Balayogi, the same position was obtained by Shiv Sena when TDP declined to put up another candidate.

Some regional parties which are backing the coalition governments have gone to the extent of withdrawing support to them if their demands are not satisfied. Many regional parties have made use of this opportunity by shedding their ideologies and to get berths in the cabinet. Some ruling Regional Parties in the States got more plan out lay, projects, industries, fiinds for different projects. Some parties even got important portfolios at the centre by bringing pressure. The coalition governments stooped to such a low level if a coahtion partner is unhappy with the central govenmient, immediately it sends an emissary to patch up the relations. Consequently the Regional Parties became powerful and the central government became weak. The Regional Parties exploiting the weakness of the coalition governments at the centre. "In the eleventh Lok Sabha the second largest group after the BJP is not the Congress Party but the Regional Parties. If the CPI and CPM are considered as Regional Parties of Kerala, Tripura, and West Bengal and the 12 independents are added to the tally, 195 out 534 seats declared having gone to regional groups leaving 239 seats for the three national parties i.e. the BJP (181), Congress Party (141), Janata Dal (83). Even in 1967 the flood water mark of regionalism till Congress, and Jana

I •J Sangh won 363 seats to the others tally of 158. " The nation has been facing the unclear and fractured mandate despite repeated failures in 1977, 1989, 1996, and 1998. 89

Growth of Reeional Parties in the Lok Sabha.

"Aside from the growing magnitude of Regional Parties in state legislatures, another new feature of Regional Parties in a multiparty system of governance is their direct impact on national government coalitions; India's case study shows that the steady transformation of party systems at the state level has affected the composition of recent governments at the national level""'

"in aggregate, India's state assembly elections have been characterized by a high degree of volatility since 1970. This stage featured sharp electoral swings in favour of and against the Congress party followed by the gradual decline of aggregate electoral strength of the Congress party in state assembly elections. The formation of the Janata Party was a reaction to Indira's emergency regime. These pre- and post electoral political alliances have now become the dominant feature of India's political system, both at the national and at the state level. The 1977 general elections also strengthened the anti-Congress platform of that year .the swift electoral decline of the Congress during the 1977 general elections was short-hved. Despite the party's poor showing during inl977 general elections, three years later Indira returned to power.""^

ELECTORAL PERFORMANCE OF REGIONAL PARTIES.

The regional parties cannot be ignored when we talk about Indian Political system. The electoral performance of the regional parties in various states had a lot of impact on the significant role in the state. Indian Politics since late sixties signify the impact of regional parties in national politics. They have been playing a decisive role in making a government or unmaking the either at the centre or at the state level. Gradually they have grown up to the level of "King Makers' and playing key role in the regional or state level politics in many parts of the country. Naturally the regional parties used the regional sentiments like regional feelings, language, economic backwardness, central government's step motherly attitude, allocation of funds etc.

-' Ibid. P.59. "•'' Lawrence Saez. Federalism without Centre" Sage Publications. New Delhi. 2002,P.59 90

Table - 4

No. of National Parties & regional Parties contested and won seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

Election National % of Votes Regional % of votes Year Parties Polled Parties polled 1952 14 69% 59 3.2% 1957 4 73% 19 1.6% 1962 8 76% 14 2.8% 1967 8 78% 16 5.1% 1971 8 84.3 22 6.9% 1977 7 81.5% 18 3.8% 1980 6 79.6% 17 4.1% 1984 6 79.8% 17 10% 1989 8 88.9% 17 4.6% 1991 6 88.1% 20 4.6% 1996 8 69.1% 34 6.2% 1998 6 68.1% 34 9.7% 1999 7 67.1% 40 26.9%

Source: Election Commission of India reports from 1952-1999.

In the year 1952 in the 1^' Lok Sabha election as many as 59 regional parties were contested and polled 3.2 percent of votes. It was the highest number of regional parties which contested in Lok Sabha elections then. The number had suddenly dropped to 19 in the next general elections which held in 1957 Lok Sabha elections. The percentage of votes polled to the regional parties had reduced to 1.6. The number of national parties was also come down to a single digit. In 1952 there were 14 national parties contested the elections the number cut down to mere 4. Many of the national parties were compressed to the level of regional parties as emerged as strangest party as it had great historical background. The number of regional parties further gone down to 14 in the 1962 general elections but they could improve their percentage of votes to 2.8.However in 1984 the number of regional parties were increased to 17 and could gain 10 percent of votes. Since then the number of regional parties started increasing. By 1999 the number had gone up to about 40 and the votes percentage also increased to 26.9 which is very high. 91

Weightage of regional Parties in selected state legislatures. Figure represent percentage share of votes in State Legislative Assembly Elections.

Table - 5

Election Year

1^ o CM CO OO CD CO CO OO 1 1 • • CM 1^ eg OO o CV4 lO in (O (O r>-. CO OO 00 States Andhra 0 0.2 0 0 * 1.7 0 46.3 46.2 36.8 43.9 Assam 16 0 0 8.6 * 8.7 2.6 4.7 38 6.25 * Bihar 26 6.9 9.5 20.9 17 17.8 0.9 1.8 1.8 3.5 4.6 Haryana * * * 0 14.8 6.9 6 0 0 12.5 * J&K * * 6.7 17.1 * 0 46.2 51.9 36.7 * 37 Manipur * * 0 * 20.2 25 9.4 12.3 22 28.8 Meghalaya * * * * * 35.7 77.1 44.4 44.2 * 42 Nagaland * * * 0 38.7 35.7 11.9 32 30.1 41.6 33 Punjab 15.8 5.4 16 6 * 30.5 27.8 31.5 26.9 38 5.2 Sikkim * • * * * * 65.3 * 63.1 70.4 77.2 Tamil Nadu 2.8 0 27.1 40.8 * 48.6 55.3 61.2 66.6 33.7 66.9 Tripura * * * * 0 * 1.2 7.9 10.5 * 7.5

(*) represents no election held during that time period. Source: - Federalism without a centre. (Lawrence Saez) P. 55.

The above table indicates that since 1971 onwards the regional parties obtained considerable number of votes in the state assembly elections. In 1989 the non-Congress National parties got many seats and the percentage of votes had improved due to alliance with the Regional Parties in the state. The National Front formed government with the support of the Regional Parties.

In Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu the regional parties obtained good percentage of votes. The impact of regional parties was in these states existed from the beginning. Later on the regional party's electoral performance in the states like AP, Assam, Haryana , Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya ,Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura many regional parties were formed and contested the elections. They were in the beginning stage. The Andhra Pradesh remained as a citidal of Congress for about 30 years. In 1983 the formation of Telugu Desam Party changed the political situation. The thumping victory of TDP inspired many aspirants to start regional parties 92

The regional parties played very a key role in the 11' and 12' Lok Sabha also. The regional parties are very strong in Tamil Naidu where the regional parties ruling since last four decades. No national party could form government in Tamil Nadu since 1970"s. In order to gain majority the national parities were forced to tie-up with AIADMK and DMK. These two parties sharing power alternatively may anti incumbency. Tamils attitude is very different since very begging. In fact regionalism came into being in Madras presidency. The people are strongly influenced by Periyar and Annadurai. In Eleventh Lok Sabha the DMK won 16 seats and the breakaway Congress party Trinamul Congress led by G.K.Moopanar won 20 seats and in 12' Lok Sabha AIADMK won 18 seats and other regional parties won 18 seats.

The Telugu Desam party in Andhra Pradesh since 1983 has been influencing the National Politics. N.T.Ramama Rao put all his efforts to bring together all the regional parties since its inception. In the 11'*' Lok Sabha it won 17 seats and in 12' Lok Sabha it won 11 seats. In Bihar Lalu Prasad's RJD won 16 seats in ll'*' Lok Sabha and 17 seats in 12' Lok Sabha in Panjab Shiromani Akadal and in West Bengal Trinamal Congress in Assam Assam Gana Parishad also won considerable number of seats. In Maharashtra Shiv Sena won 15 seats in 11'*' Lok Sabha and in 12"^ Lok Sabha it won 6 seats. In Harayana, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa, Kerala and North Eastern States the Regional Parties playing important role. The following table shows the how the Regional Parties fared in 11' and 12' elections.

After 4'*^ General elections in 1983 Congress lost its power in Andhra Pradesh, Kamataka, Kashmir, Tripura and there were regional parties in power in Tamil Nadu and Punjab. In Kerala since 1960 the Congress and Communists formed governments alternatively with the support of regional parties' independents. 93

Table - 6 Electoral Performance of the Regional Parties in 11 th &12 th Lok Sabha. Sly. Name of the Party STATE SEATS WON No. ir i 12'" 1. DMK Tamil Nadu 16 06 2. AIADMK Tamil Nadu 0 18 3. Tamil Manila Congress Tamil Nadu 20 03 4. Pattali Makal Katch (PMK) Tamil Nadu - 04 5. Marumalarchi DMK Tamil Nadu - 03 6. Tamizha Rajiv Congress (TRC) Tamil Nadu - 01 7. Janata Party Tamil Nadu - 01 8. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Andhra Pradesh 17 11 9. Majlis-I-Muslimeen (MIM) Andhra Pradesh 01 01 10. Muslim League (lUML) Kerala 02 02 11. Kerala Congress (M) (KCM) Kerala - 01 12. Lok Shakti Karanataka - 03 13 Shiv Sena Maharashtra 15 06 14. Peasants and Workers Party(PWP) Maharashtra - 01 15. Republican Party of India (RPI) Maharashtra - 04 16. Biju Janata Dal Orissa - 09 17. Trinamu) Congress West Bengal - 07 18. Forword Block West Bengal 02 02 19. All India Congress - 01 20. Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Rajasthan - 04 21. Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) Haryana 01 03 22. Haryana Lok Dal (HLD) Haryana - 04 23. (SAD) Punjab 08 08 24. Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) Uttar Pradesh - 01 25. Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) Assam 05 03 26. United Minorities Front (UMF) Assam - 01 27. Auton State Demand Committee Assam - 01 28. Bodoland State Movement Committee Assam - 01 29. Manipur State Congress (MSC) Manipur - 01 30. - 02 31. Mizoram Citizens Committee Mizoram - 01 32. National Conference (NC) Jammu & Kashmir - 03 33. AIIC (Tiwari) Uttar Pradesh 04 - 34. Bharatiya Krishi Kamgar Party (BKKP) Uttar Pradesh 1 - 35. Rashrtiya Janata Dal Bihar 16 17 36. Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha (JMM) Bihar 1 - 37. Samata Party Bihar 5 - 38. Maharashtra Gomantak Party (MGP) Goa 1 - 39. United Goa Democratic Party Goa 1 - 40. Sikkim 1 - 41. Sikkim Democratic Front Sikkim 01 94

Conclusion

Modem regionalism is the product of growing democracy and growing uneven economic development. The emergences of regional political parties are not dangerous phenomenon in a diverse society like India. These regional parties bound to emerge and to develop their cultures develop in every part of the country which had the historical background. The Five Year Plans made the developed areas more developed and the less developed less, just as the rich became richer and poor became poorer in the society in general. "Thus modem regionalism is a product of this basic contradiction, the cultural and other social differences of the region further added to this basic contradiction"."

One peculiar feature of Indian Party system is that almost 90 percent of the non-Congress parties are the splinter groups and dissidents of the Indian National Congress. Many of them formed groups and founded political parties mostly at regional level against the Congress party or for their existence in politics. Many of the parties are highly fragmented and there is no constmctive ideology but depended on the personality cult. Congress party monopolized the pohtics for 40 years unintermptedly except a short break in 1977. In the history of Indian system in the 50 years of independence, many parties and Fronts have formed and vanished but no party stood as a strong altemative to the Congress Party with its own support. The BJP emerged as a powerful altemative to the Congress Party with alliance with Regional Parties in different states. BJP formed government with twenty-three parties. Some non-Congress national parties have put efforts to create an ahemative to the Congress Party but nothing could materialize. After Babri Masjid demolition even Congress lost its popularity due to lack of strong and charismatic leadership, so it's not so smooth going for the Congress now. The Congress too started having alliance with the regional parties in various states to win more seats. It is also because of emergence of Regional Parties in various states. The Congress party had formed government at the centre since 1952 on less than 50 percent of votes. It is due the too many political parties contesting the elections.

.Shi\ Chandra Jha, Indian Pany Politics. Deep & Deep Publicalions, New Delhi, 1989. P.921. 95

The opposition parties made attempts many times to bring unity among them but the unity moves were short lived due to the "personaUzed nature of Indian politics."'^ "The unexpected and thumping victory of TDP in 1983 intensified unity moves among the opposition. The initiatives in this regard coming from the new entrants of politics. NTR convened an all party meeting at Vijayawada in May 1983 attended by as many as 24 leaders from 14 opposition parties"''*. The conclave politics was appearing wearisome and BJP and the Lok Dal sprang a supreme on the entire opposition as well as the ruling Congress Party by the National Democratic alliance (NDA) in August 1983. The conclave politics was not proving to be much productive of definite results and parties were giving up the idea of a national alternative to the ruling Congress party, despite their fondness for it. Alliance Politics was thus on their cards. An alliance has rather modest pretentious in pretentious in practice, it is not much better than electoral arrangements to avoid splitting votes.'' ^

Ironically the opposition parties which have created alternative govenmients to the Congress, as soon as they come to power they started disintegrating themselves due to lack of common agenda and difference of opinions. Each party tries to get key posts in the government. The power struggle among each other ended many times with great tragedy.

"Some governments were overtly coalition consisting generally of multiplicity of parties. But there also arose the practice of minority government remaining in power with the outside support, but not active participation of some other parties. The only real difference between these two forms of governments is that which all parties making coalition share both the responsibility and authority in it. The party supporting government from the outside but not participating in it enjoys power without responsibility" . In 1969 and 1991 Congress formed minority governments at the centre.

'' Shriram Maheshwari "Political Development in India" Concept Publishing Company"" New Delhi, 1984, P. 66. " Ibid, p 66. '' Ibid, p 67. 96

As Congress party's popularity has been waning after the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress lacked the strong, viable and consciences leadership. The party Presidents P.V.Narsimha Rao and Sitaram Kesiri led the party into electoral debacle. Veteran Parliamentarian Madhu Dandavate said that "India is heading towards an era of coalition governments at the centre, but this is not necessarily a negative development" Speaking in Pune in 1995 in Vsant Vyakhyanamala, he drew attention to successful coalition governments which had ruled for many years in many countries."'^

•'In April 1967 Pratinidhi Sabha endorsed the coalition government. The Jana Sangh decided to join hands with all the non-Congress elements including communists in the post election phase. In this period the Jana Sangh strategy was to encourage defections from among the ranks of the Congress men but the party never admitted the Congress defectors into her fold lest they should pollute the party's atmosphere." The National parties are getting the support from the regional parties, which are having different support backgrounds. For instance BJPs ideology is different and it sought the support of the parties which are having quite opposite ideologies like TDP, AIADMK, and DMK. The TDP in Andhra Pradesh has large support of Muslims.

Paul R.Brass observes Because of compulsions operating within a culturally and politically heterogeneous Indian society, did indeed compel them (BJP) to compromise with regional political forces to gain power at the centre, while attempting to hold at bay the RSS cadres whose lives have been built upon the dream of consolidating Hindu society and creating a Hindu nation state that will become strong enough to gain the respect of the west. The effect, therefore, BJP was forced to compromise with regional forces to gain and retain power at the centre."'''^

Times of India,(Pune Plus) 6"^ May 1995. '^ K.L.Kamal. "Reflections on Indian Politics", RBSA Publications, Jaipur-3, 1995,p.82-83. " Francine R Franket (Edit) Transforming India ibid P. 76. 97

Coalition governments indicate the deviant behavior of Indian voter. The verdict of Indian voter in each election is varying voters always changing their affections towards different parties. In recent times the voters attracted towards regional parties. They never think about the importance of stable governments at the centre and National security and integrity. The expectations of the Regional Parties will increase when there is a coalition government at the centre. A coalition government should particularly heed the aspirations of the Regional Parties which are the partners. The Regional Parties have created a national alternative to the Congress Party by coming together though they have failed repeatedly forming stable government at the centre which could last for its full term. In most of the cases it is Congress Vs Regional Parties with some non Congress National parties. Therefore non-Congress National parties got benefited to taste the power at the centre who never dreamt of it. For instance Devea Gowada and I.K.Gujral of Janata Dal Vajpayee of BJP perhaps never dreamt of becoming Prime Ministers of this country. In the same Indrajit Gupta of CPI would not have expected that he would become the Union Home Minister for a while. It all happened with the magic of Regional Parties.

Lawrence Saez observes that "An important implication of the localized growth of regional parties is that it has tended to limit the political space for national alternative to the Congress party. For instance the BJP has been most competitive in those state assemblies where regional parties combined with the gradual fragmentation of the Congress system of dominance has provided an opportunity for new forms of identity - based mass politics to thrive. These parties BSP & SP are sometimes counted as regional party. However, they have an electoral presence in various states and their appeal is to voters based on caste allegiance rather than region""

The Regional Parties too got benefited by having alliance or electoral understanding with the non-Congress national Parties in order to form governments in their states. For instance Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal, Haryana Lok Dal, TDP etc. of Maharashtra, Orissa, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, respectively in 1990s formed governments in their states with help of national parties. Samata Party,

Lawrence Saez, Federalism without Centre" Sage Publications. New Delhi. 2002,P.56. 98

Jharkand Mukthi Morcha in Jharkhand, Haryana Vikas Party in Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party in Goa etc. are the examples. Though ideologically these parties are different with mutual understanding they are sharing the power each other. This trend ultimately weakened the mighty Congress Party grossly all over the country by and large and put an end to single party dominance at the centre.

"One of the most salient characteristics of the changes in India's state-party systems has been the growth in regional parties as well as national parties with a concentrated regional base. This transformation was representing regional identities and aspirations, generally, based upon common language and culture. Some of these Regional Parties or regional movements have preached India's Independence from thcBritish."-'

"The Shiromani Akali Dal and its splinter groups returned to power in 1977 and became a dominant political party in Punjab; Similarly National Conference in J&K re-emerged victorious in 1977 in the state assembly after an absence of one decade''"". In addition to the re-emergence of traditional Regional Parties and movements, some formed almost spontaneously. In AP, the TDP was created in 1982 and challenged the Congress and routed the Congress in the state Assembly elections of 1983, and 1985 respectively. AGP in 1988 challenged the Congress and own the assembly elections. "The impact of Regional Parties has been localized. Twelve States have a Sizeable presence of regional parties in their legislature. The presence of regional in the remaining state legislature is neither marginal nor non existent""

"During 1992, 1996 state Assembly elections the Regional Parties obtained 77.2 percent of the vote share in Sikkim and 67 per cent of the vote share in Tamil Nadu."--*

-'.Ibid, p54. "• .Lawrence Saez, Federalism without Centre" Sage Publications. New Delhi. 2002,P.54 -' Ibid. P.54. -•• Ibid. P56.