From Odisha to Telangana: How regional parties are losing ground to BJP and Congress

New Delhi: India is a multi-party democracy. While some parties like the BJP and Congress have the status of national parties, there are several others like the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the Janata Dal United, which are categorised as regional parties. In order to be categorised as a national party, any political outfit

1. Must be recognised as a state party in 4 or more states of the Indian Union.

2. Its candidates must poll at least 6% of the total valid votes in any 4 or more states in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections and has won at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha.

3. It has won at least 2% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from at least 3 states

Currently the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the National People's Party (NEPP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are recognised as the national parties in the country. The other parties, right from Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Janata Dal United, the Biju Janata Dal and several others are regional parties.

Regional parties were formed across India, from Bihar to Tamil Nadu. While parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal United in Bihar came out of the Janata Party, parties in South India, like the DMK was a breakaway faction of the Dravidar Kazhagam. The party was mainly formed to promote language consciousness and ethnic consciousness among Tamilians.

Following a report of the Mandal Commission on reservations in India, politics in India saw a drastic change. Several regional outfits especially in North India sprung up and they based their politics along caste lines. So if Bihar's Rashtriya Janata Dal was seeking votes from the Yadav community of Bihar, the Bahujan Samaj Party sought votes from the Dalit community in Uttar Pradesh. There was the Janata Dal United, which grew on the votes of the backward classes, other than Yadavs in Bihar. Their main target voters belonged to the Kurmi and Kori community. Another regional party growing in another part of the country was the Biju Janata Dal. This party was founded in Odisha and was meant at addressing the unique socio-economic challenges faced by the people of the state. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi was founded in 2001, with the sole aim of getting a new state, Telangana, which they ultimately succeeded in getting within the Indian Union. The party's founder K Chandrasekhar Rao served as the Chief Minister of the state.

Most of these political parties were active in politics. Many also formed governments in various states across India. So if the RJD ruled in Bihar for a considerable period, the BJD was in power in Odisha for a total of 24 years, between 2000 to 2024. The party then lost power to the BJP.

Of late however a new trend is being witnessed in states across India. Just like there was a wave in favour of regional parties in the 1990s, there seems to be a wave in favour of the national parties now. Several states have seen regional parties loose power to the national players, like the BJP and Congress. Here are 3 states where this change has taken place.

1. Uttar Pradesh: Uttar Pradesh the most populated state in India which has 403 members in the legislature is one of the best examples of national parties replacing the regional parties in the state. The state saw the rise of several regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal among others. These parties ruled the state for a considerable period of time, right up to the 2000s. Charan Singh of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal was the first non-Congress CM of the state. Before that the Congress party dominated state politics.

In 1989, the Samajwadi Party-led by Mulayam Singh Yadav formed the government. Following this, the BJP managed to gain power twice in the state, but both times, the governments were short lived and power oscillated between the 2 regional parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

This however changed in 2017. This year Assembly Elections in the state led the BJP to gain power in the state. On March 19, 2017, Yogi Adityanath of the BJP was sworn in as the CM of the state. The BJP won 312 seats and gained a majority in the Assembly on its own. The party chose Yogi Adityanath to lead as the CM. That year the BSP managed just 19 seats, while the Samajwadi Party which had been ruling the state before won 47 seats.

In the next elections, the BJP won 255 seats, though this was less than their previous performance, the party still managed to reach the majority mark. Other parties like the SP won 111 seats, while the BSP's number was a lowly 1 seat. The trend in UP was clear, the national party, BJP had clearly taken over from regional players.

2. Telangana: Telangana is another state where the regional party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, now known as Bharat Rashtra Samithi faced outster in the elections. This time it was the Congress party which had ousted a regional satrap. The Congress party won the Telangana Assembly Elections, held in November-December 2023. The national party won 64 seats in that election. The ruling BRS managed to win 39 seats, while the BJP won 8. Thus while one national party was ready to form the government in the 119-member house, the other (BJP) came in third place. They left behind another regional party, the AIMIM, which won 7 seats.

Congress leader Revanth Reddy was named the CM of the state. He replaced K Chandrasekhar Rao who had ruled the state ever since its formation in 2014. Rao had been in office for 9 years and 188 days.

3. Odisha: Odisha is yet another state where a powerful regional player was replaced by a national party. The Biju Janata Dal had been ruling the state since March 5, 2000. The party remained in power continuously for 24 years. It lost power to the BJP in the 2024 Assembly Elections. BJD leader Biju Patnaik was the CM of the state since 2000.

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In the 2024 elections however the BJD lost power to the BJP. The BJP managed to win 78 seats in the 147 member assembly. The incumbent BJD managed just 51 seats, far from the 112 seats it had won in the 2019 elections. The Congress party won 14 seats, while the CPI (M) managed 1. 3 Independents also won in Odisha. The BJP improved from the last elections of 2019, when it had won only 23 seats.

The above examples from 3 different states surely show a growing trend of people's preference for national parties in the state. In other states like Bihar, the national party, BJP is in coalition with the regional party , the JDU.