Will regional parties play important role in Indian national election?

There is no doubt that none of the national party can get the magic figure of its own to form government. Every one is waiting for the number to come out on 16th to make next move. But it is very much clear that the third and forth front do not exist any more. Most of the parties that were considered part of these fronts have shown their willingness to support or oppose BJP coming into power. DMK is with congress and Jayalalitha has said that she is getting invitations from all the parties but she is waiting till 16th May to respond to them. TDP has come with NDA and Mulayam, Paswan and Lalu have lost any hope for the third front government. Mulayam is ready to support any government that dismisses Mayawati's government from UP.

All this scenario has made it clear that the next government is going to be led by Congress or BJP with the support of allies from different states. Most of the parties are still saying that they would like a secular government in the centre but, in fact, every party is secular except BJP so the point comes down to supporting or opposing BJP.

Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Jayalalitha and Mamta Benerjee are the only regional parties available in market to shop from. These regional parties have not shown interest in any of the national alliance yet so they are expected to play important role once the numbers are released for each party. Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Mamta are the three ladies who have been with both the national alliance and it is expected they will move with the alliance that will apparently form the government. There is also a joke about Ramados in the politics that whichever party forms the government he will be health minister so there are many small parties waiting to jump and be part of next government.