Assembly Elections 2026 Results | 'Regional parties not aligning with anti-BJP bloc will eventually fade away'

New Delhi: Regional parties that have tactically supported the BJP and have not mobilised strongly behind an anti-BJP bloc have faced electoral reverses with some even facing irrelevance over a period of time.

Only recently, the Opposition pointed out to the JD(U), which ceded the Chief Minister’s post to the saffron party in Bihar, claiming that those who align with the BJP will eventually lose out. It even warned the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, both NDA allies.

Opposition leaders claim that BJP manages entry into states where it does not have a stake with the help of regional parties that places themselves against the dominant party, especially Congress.

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However, they claimed, the BJP would slowly use the “goodwill” the ally enjoys to build their organisation and take over the reins once it is in a position to sidestep the ally. A senior leader pointed out to the “patience”, that spanned over almost 25 years, the BJP showed in Bihar to outwit JD(U).

The leader said Trinamool Congress should also be blamed for BJP finding a foothold in West Bengal, as in its quest for ousting the Left in the state, it allied with the saffron camp though it eventually came out of it.

The Trinamool also, the leader said, played the individual game to show its independence from the Congress, the Opposition bloc leader. At crucial junctures, the leader said, the Trinamool gave the BJP a handle and referred to an incident soon after Lok Sabha results.

When all I.N.D.I.A. parties decided to seek seating in Lok Sabha as a bloc, the leader said, Trinamool wrote to Speaker Om Birla asking him to consider it as a separate bloc. The reasoning was that it was not an electoral ally of the Congress and did not want it to take the lead.

Opposition leaders also point to parties like BRS and YSR Congress, which did not officially ally with the NDA but helped it in crucial junctures in Parliament, also saw BJP emerging as one pole in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

BJP allies like Akali Dal in Punjab and BJD in Odisha had also faced similar experiences though in the former, the saffron party is yet to gain a larger pie though it had a political coup when it managed seven Rajya Sabha MPs to its fold.

Parties like AGP in Assam and MGP in Goa also had to play second fiddle to BJP after giving it space in their states.