Regional rather than national parties are assuming primary role in Indian politics. In many cases, they are the dominant partners in coalitions involving national parties. That is the situation in Haryana and Punjab where in the absence of broad electoral waves, issues revolving around economic concerns, group alignments and splits, corruption and local situations dominated in 1996-97 parliamentary and assembly elections. The regional parties not only continued to gain in importance but a quantum leap took place in their significance.
