The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Trinamool Congress are truly in an all-dressed-up-but-nowhere-to-go situation.
All three parties chose to contest the elections on their own in the hope of bettering their numbers and increasing their bargaining power in a coalition government at the Centre. The first part of the gamble has paid off handsomely for all three: the AIADMK has picked up 37 of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, the BJD 20 of the 21 seats in Odisha, and the Trinamool Congress 34 of 42 in West Bengal.
The celebrations of a spectacular electoral showing however, are unlikely to go further with the BJP heading for a clear majority on its own. In fact, even its existing allies in the National Democratic Alliance appear like a spot of bother for the party that is having a tough time balancing demands from within for key portfolios.
While the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which had hoped to stop the BJP juggernaut in Uttar Pradesh, have been swept aside as has been the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the YSR Congress have done fairly well in the maze that Andhra Pradesh politics had become after the creation of Telangana.
But like all other regional parties, they have been rendered also-rans in this election which brings the curtain down on the 25-year run of coalitions.
