The most consistent feature of yet another fractured verdict is a marked popular preference for a BJP-led coalition and that, even in terms of personal charisma, the predominant national choice is Vajpayee ...In post-Mandal India coalitions have come to stay and that the voter is reflecting a more federal approach by giving clear verdicts in each state. The resulting rainbow coalition - irrespective of which colour dominates it – is whatr he would prefer and it is time our politicians acquired the maturity and sagacity to live with such politics. After two shameful failures, Indian leaders have been given yet another chance to prove equal to the task.

Vajpayee's real challenge lies in this ... There is also a reaffirmation of the fact that regional parties constitute one of the more resilient features of our politics ... Strong regional parties would make coalitions inevitable. The challenge for our politicians is to build a healthy, workable consensus with them. This would necessitate putting old party and ideological agendas on the back burner ...

Secularism, indeed, is a strong enough cause for parties to bury their differences to counter a communal threat. But no such sentiment was evident when Kesri put his personal insecurities above secularism to pull down H.D. Deve Gowda's government. or when the unholy "Jain Gang" of Arjun Singh, Jiterdra Prasada, N.D.Tiwari and others dumped I.K. Gujral ... Or when ... the Left and even the Janata Dal, so supremely arrogant, kept the Congress out of the coalition ... If they now sound so hollow as to be giving secularism a bad name they have only themselves to blame.

... Today, the voter has defanged the communal forces by offering them power with such equivocation and has actively put the BJP on notice by punishing it in all the states it rules. He will be watching closely as the party changes and evolves to pass the new test before it ... (Source: The Indian Express. 5 March. 199m)