It’s not even halfway through the first month of 2019, and election season is in full bloom in India. But back to the heat of electioneering, the largest state of Uttar Pradesh saw a unique, and some would say opportunistic, alliance between bitter rivals Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. Electoral combat is but natural in the world’s largest democracy, but the intense dislike between the supremos of the two parties is personal. In recent memory, this is an unprecedented move, although strategic understandings on chosen seats have been the norm between rivals. In recent assembly elections in the new state of Telangana, the Congress-led coalition, or “maha gathbandhan,” was wiped out, bolstering the aspirations of regional parties in view of Congress’s inability to be a player in states where regional parties hold sway.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 17, 2019 14:26 UTC