4 Can the DMK and the TMC retain their dominant regional party positions?

One of the defining features of post-2014 politics in India has been the decline of Congress, Left parties and Mandal based formation in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have emerged as an important source of anti-bjp MPS in the Lok Sabha. DMK and the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) are the biggest parties after the Congress which consistently oppose the BJP in the parliament. Their combined strength of 45 is just seven less than that of the Congress. While the AITC suffered serious reverses in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – its seat tally came down from 34 to 22 – the DMK led alliance swept Tamil Nadu winning 38 out of the 39 seats. Their performance in these elections will have important implications for their status not just in the states but also in national politics.

NEW DELHI: The Terminal 1 (T1) of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport will resume domestic flight operations starting March 25, according to officials privy to the development.

Airport officials said only a portion of the terminal will be made operational for now, as the ongoing expansion work of the building will continue. For now, the terminal will cater to approximately half the number of flights it handled before the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Officials in the know of the matter said the decision to reopen T1 was taken because of the increasing domestic flight operations in the country. Confirming the development, Sachin Badshah, deputy inspector general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which secures the airport, said a decision had been taken to open T1 starting March 25.

“Earlier it was decided that the terminal will be made operational from March 28. However, the date has been preponed to March 25. CISF will have its adequate arrangements as required. Even when the terminal was closed completely, because of the ongoing expansion work, our staff was deployed throughout to secure the facility,” Badshah said.

The domestic terminal was shut last year on March 25, two days after international flight operations were suspended due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the