“In the new era of coalition politics, political parties are not aligning or realigning on the basis of ideology.” What arguments would you put forward to support or oppose this statement ?

It is correct that in the new era of coalition politics, political parties are not aligning or realigning on the basis of ideology. Now emphasis is laid on pragmatic considerations rather than ideological positions and political alliances without ideological agreement are made. The focus of political parties has, therefore, shifted from ideological differences to power-sharing arrangements. The political equations have become unstable. For example in 1989, both Left and BJP supported the National Front Government because they wanted to keep the Congress out of power. In 1996, The Left continued to support the non-Congress government but this time the Congress supported it, as both the Congress and the Left wanted to keep the BJP out of power. Similarly most parties of the NDA (1999-2004) did not agree with the ‘Hindutva’ ideology of the BJP but they came together to form a government and remained in power for a full term.