Political developments of coalition politics in India

The study reveals evolution of coalition politics in India and also identify reasons for dominance of Indian National Congress, and its replacement by non- Congress coalitions both at centre and in states. It further delineates a brief survey of coalition governments in India, and highlights the coalition culture or norm which has become an inevitable feature of contemporary Indian politics. This study explores nature, character and extent of minority coalitions in India, which although can be regarded as a kind of accommodative politics with all varieties of political parties ideologically poles apart ranging from regional to national coming together in broad coalitions, but proved short lived and unstable. Even these short-term coalitions opened a new paradigm in India's political history. However, the successful completion of tenure of National Democratic Alliance-I and United Progressive Alliance-I governments made coalition system an alternative available to Indian democracy and strengthened the federal structure of Indian Political system. This study concludes that though conflicts and controversies were inevitable in coalition governments in India but what is more important how those successive coalition governments time and again managed those conflicts effectively and efficiently.