A boost for NDA, jolt to INDIA bloc

The BJP is the big gainer from this round of assembly elections.

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The defeat of the DMK and the TMC, two major advocates of federalism, leaves the national Opposition space diminishedThe Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the third and fourth largest parties in the Lok Sabha (by representation) among the Opposition, and the fourth and fifth largest overall, were voted out of power in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, respectively, in the latest round of assembly elections declared Monday. The results should worry the INDIA grouping of Opposition parties because they suggest a further shrinking in electoral mindspace occupied by parties other than the national political hegemon, the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sure, Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which emerged the largest party in Tamil Nadu, isn’t allied with the BJP, but it isn't aligned with the Opposition either. Its politics aren’t clear, but one of its biggest talking points during the campaign was that it was neither the BJP nor the DMK, indicating an anti-status-quo and anti-establishment rhetoric reminiscent of the Aam Aadmi Party.