In the opposition bloc INDIA, formed in mid-2023 to jointly take on BJP in parliamentary elections of 2024, Congress is the only party with a pan-India presence.
While opposition parties could not prevent BJP from returning to power in the general elections two years ago, they succeeded in keeping the Modi-led party from securing a majority on its own.
Congress is now in power in three Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka and is set to form a government in Kerala.
With Congress and other opposition parties competing with each other to position themselves as the leader of the anti-BJP combine, it has the potential to set off fresh equations in INDIA.
The emergence of caste-based regional parties, for which regional flavour is more important than national issues, has come at the expense of weakened pan-India parties like Congress and BJP since late 1980s.
Since the start of coalition politics and governance at the Centre, the national parties' dependence on regional parties is critical for survival particularly when the lead party lacks majority on its own like the incumbent Modi government is.
Over the last few years, BJP has expanded its hold across 21 states in India as the regional parties fell into decline.
Only South India has been largely elusive for BJP, barring for a brief period in Karnataka.
The states where regional parties are still holding on to power are Andhra Pradesh (Telugu Desam Party, an ally of BJP), Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
The political importance lies in whether the issue moves from public comment into formal action, party response, court record, election authority notice or administrative decision.
