The great churning

The great churning: "THE political realignments taking place now prove that Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani’s grand idea of a bipolar polity emerging at the Centre in India, with the BJP and the Congress as the two poles and the other parties grouped around them, will remain a pipe dream. The rise of regional parties aspiring to play a national role and a concomitant drop in the influence of the national parties can ensure this in Elections 2009. This is the sentiment that finds echo in the reports filed by Frontline’s correspondents from States that vote on April 16 and 23, the first two phases of the five-phase elections."