The 1990s witnesses emergence of new political trends among which the withering away of single-party government proved to be vital in transforming the character of statecraft in the country. Coalition politics surfaced as the new alternative on the political horizon. It posed a challenge to the existing stratagem of the Congress and a danger to the BJP's ambitions.

A situation has emerged over the past few years where the local interests are dominating the political scenario. With the social diversity asserting itself with full force, it has become extremely difficult to impose a national agenda, and therefore, the political parties have tacitly accepted the reality of a multi-party coalition as the only viable option.

In a situation when nearly every region is dominated by a regional party and when the Congress .. has virtually disintegrated ... as demonstrated by its effort to win emotional support ... through playing the dynasty card, no alternative vision can be suggested or projected for having a democratic government ... When regional aspirations are asserting themselves and any clear-cut national agenda is absent, nothing but only a conglomerate of parties can be a non-authoritarian democratic option for the Indian polity ... One negative fall out ... however is that politicians desperate to taste power would be forming splinter groups after breaking away from a major party and enter into an alliance with the single largest party to form government and win a ministerial berth (as) in UP ... Coalition politics has come to stay ... Uniformity cannot be imposed, and history is a witness that wherever it was done and end-result had been disastrous. Only coalition polities can accommodate.