The Indian coalition drama

Chennai: A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. Usually, such a government if formed if no party on its own gets a majority in the parliament elections.

However, a coalition government may also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis, for example during wartime, to give a government the high degree of perceived political legitimacy it desires whilst also playing a role in diminishing internal political strife. If a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is held or a motion of no confidence is taken.
India has had coalition governments at the Centre as well as in individual states since the last two decades.

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Formation of coalition governments reflects the transition in Indian politics away from the national parties toward smaller, more narrowly-based regional parties. Some regional parties, especially in South India, are deeply aligned to the ideologies of the region unlike the national parties and thus the relationship between the central government and the state government in various states has not always been free of rancor. Disparity between the ideologies of the political parties ruling the centre and the state leads to severely skewed allocation of resources between the states.

Coalition in India

Coalition governments in India mainly gained popularity from the 1989 elections. In this election, although Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress won more seats it did not have a clear majority number to form a government. During that time, the Janata Dal, a union of opposition parties, formed a government with the help of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the right and the communists on the left. However, this 'loose' coalition collapsed in November 1990.

But using the chance a breakaway Janata Dal group supported by Congress took over the country's reins with Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister for a brief while. But that alliance too collapsed resulting in national elections in June 1991.

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In the 1991 elections, soon after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, Congress won 213 parliamentary seats and put together a coalition, returning to power under the leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. This Congress-led government, served a full 5-year term.

In the 1996 elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single-largest party but without enough strength to prove a majority on the floor of that Parliament. Again it allied with a few more parties to bring up the relevant numbers with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister. But, the BJP coalition lasted in power 13 days.

This led to a 14-party coalition led by the Janata Dal to form a government known as the United Front, under the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Deve Gowda. But this government too lasted less than a year, as the Congress Party withdrew support in March 1997.

Then, a 16-party United Front coalition, elected Inder Kumar Gujral as the consensus choice for Prime Minister replacing Deve Gowda. But the Congress party played spoilsport again in November 1997 and withdrew support for the United Front

The February 1998 elections brought back the focus on the BJP as the largest number of seats in Parliament--182--but fell far short of a majority. On March 20, 1998, the President inaugurated a BJP-led coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as Prime Minister.
But all this was for a year

In April 1999, the BJP-led coalition government fell apart, leading to fresh elections in September. The National Democratic Alliance-a new coalition of 13 parties led by the BJP - gained a majority to form the government with Vajpayee as Prime Minister in October 1999.

The 2004 Indian elections also saw a coalition government spearheaded by the Congress. Called the United Progressive Alliance, it was supported by left-parties and those opposed to the BJP.

And now with 2009 elections, it again looks like a coalition government.

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