For once, I felt that a single party majority was impossible because of the emergence of regional parties and the leverage they seem to have created in state level politics. Under these circumstances, pre-poll alliances are the only option national parties are left with to creep through to majority.
UPA did try to form an alliance before 2014 elections but failed nonetheless. BJP relied heavily on the Modi wave. JDU quitting the NDA was definitely a setback but the whole country seemed to be in awe of Modi, which eventually gave them a single party majority, something the country had not seen in over 30 years.
Even with a majority at center, BJP did form an alliance but clearly it was more of an outreach program than inclusive politic. Now BJP is known to be at right wing, pro-hindutva group. They belong to the Sangh Parivaar umbrella and are under constant influence of the RSS which is known to be a extreme right, Hindu national party. Not going for autonomous power was a smart move which eventually paid off a few months later with two state level coalition governments. Their major victory came with the JnK election where they came to power for the first time.
Unaided, BJP would have still been in center, but is it possible for regional parties to form some sort of an alliance and win general elections? Can they, in future stop playing second fiddle and run the government?
No.
There was a time when regional parties would talk about a third or a fourth front(more recently, the federal front). It looked promising too, but it’s just so vaguely managed that a power struggle within this front will happen sometime in future leading to major ramifications for the whole country. Fortunately, voters know this. To settle this contention, I would point out to the premiership of Morarji Desai, which eventually fell as Raj Narain and Charan Singh withdrew support. The Bihar elections will be interesting. Voters are know to be intuitive and can give janata Parivaar a shot, but the real question is whether or not Janata Parivaar's government will be able to run its course, considering that there are 3 ex-CMs in the alliance.
The regional parties can therefore be considered as some sort of a contract-based body, only there to provide a supporting role, never really enjoying any degree of autonomous power themselves. This sure is for central politics, the state politics is altogether a different scenario. Anyways, does this make them less important?
Not at all.
With an all increasing difference in opinion, voters are being segregated continuously, no one is pro-party, we’ve moved on to being pro-candidate. This gives regional parties the scope to act as vote cutters. Weak candidates from strong parties, when pitted against candidates representing regional parties will not be able to effectively use their party’s fanfare for personal victory. This precisely is the leverage I was talking about earlier
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