May 13: The JD(S) steps into the future

The party's defining feature, secularism, is fairly flexible, raising questions about the future nature of its politics. The answer will likely know by close of business, today

In the spectrum of Indian political parties, there are some whose persistent, dogged existence continues to baffle, especially in the absence of notable differentiation. For instance, in what way — philosophically — is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), formed on the basis of outrage over the foreign origins of Sonia Gandhi, any different from the Congress, especially as the two have cohabited in successive governments that were overseen and supervised by the self-same Sonia Gandhi?

Or the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), whose defining feature —secularism — is fairly flexible? It has been in coalition with both the Bharatiya Janata