Three essential lessons from Karnataka election for national politics

The Karnataka Assembly election result seals Modi's position as India's third genuine pan-Indian leader after Nehru and Indira. The surprise factor could be Mayawati

The BJP’s victory may not be fully sealed as the scores fluctuate at the time this is written (it’s still five short of 112 and arithmetically Congress+JD(S) are 114). But the Congress party’s defeat is conclusive. In yet another face-off, Narendra Modi has shown Rahul Gandhi is no match for him. There wasn’t much doubt earlier, but the Karnataka result affirms Narendra Modi’s rise as a genuine pan-India leader. This makes him only the third such in our political history, after Nehru and Indira. 

This result, therefore, has three key lessons:

1) Coalition/alliance building will now follow a process unfamiliar