Regional parties no ‘kingmakers’

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Devotees hold a 786-foot-long chadar sharif as they take out a procession in Jodhpur on Sunday.

Regional parties are unlikely to play the role of “kingmaker” at the Centre despite stalling the Lokpal bill in Parliament and compelling the government to suspend its decision on FDI in retail. This is because they are leaderless at the national level and divided in various fronts.
On the other hand, the two national parties — the Congress and the BJP — have realised that there is no threat to their leadership from the regional players who are yet to overcome “ego”, family-run parties and thereby cannot grow outside their states.
About a dozen political parties in the north and the south are run by different families. They include the Samajwadi Party, RLD, RJD, LJP, Shiv Sena, NCP, Shiromani Akali Dal, DMK, TDP, Janata Dal (S), National Conference and the PDP.
If Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, also the West Bengal chief minister, cannot become a leader of the Congress’ allies in the UPA for different reasons, Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar is yet to prove that he is a vote catcher outside his state.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was once a “freelancer” of the Congress, who used to campaign for the latter outside Bihar. But he could hardly transfer votes despite being a crowd-puller, Congress insiders observed. In fact, he had no following in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where the backward castes remain a force to reckon with in the power game for over two decades.
BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav did try to expand their parties outside UP. The BSP, at least, has some pockets of influence in Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which matter in electoral politics, but others could not.
Three chief ministers — Mayawati (UP), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu) — are not keen to play a role at the national level by consolidating regional parties as of now even as the Janata Dal (S) is fighting for survival in Karnataka.
The Left parties used to be keen on consolidating regional parties in order to create an alternative to the Congress and the BJP but they too are confined to Tripura, Kerala and West Bengal.
While the Biju Janata Dal, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and the TDP have no national ambition, the NCP does retain some. However, it is far behind in the numbers game in Parliament.