How vital are regional parties in Indian politics?

Smaller regional allies which give stability to India's ruling coalition are forcing a delay in cutting costly fuel subsidies, underscoring the political difficulties they can pose to the government's reform agenda

Two powerful ministers from coalition parties stayed away from a meeting that was due to come to a decision this week on freeing up fuel price controls to boost public finances.

Some regional parties face elections in their local strongholds in coming months, one reason they remain reluctant to back tough moves that may cause a voter backlash.

Here are some question and answers on these parties and their clout in the Congress-led federal government:

Which are the main regional allies?
* Trinamool Congress - Led by Railway Minster Mamata Banerjee, the party is the main opposition in the Communist stronghold state of West Bengal and aims to capture the state in elections next year with the help of Congress.

 * Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - The DMK party relies on Congress support to rule its bastion state, Tamil Nadu. But with state elections early next year, the party is seen as increasingly wary of supporting unpopular reform moves. The DMK and Trinamool opposed a hike in petroleum prices in February.

 * Nationalist Congress Party - One of the more stable allies of the Congress party, though relations between them have sometimes been testy over NCP chief and Farm Minister Sharad Pawar's links to Indian cricket and his business interests.

 * Bahujan Samaj Party - The BSP is no friend of the Congress with both parties locked in a bitter struggle to control Uttar Pradesh, the state that sends the largest number of lawmakers to parliament. But the alliance has been one of convenience and the BSP bailed out the government in a parliamentary confidence vote in April over high prices

How powerful are they?
Congress depends on these parties to help it reach a parliamentary majority of 272 seats. Congress party has 208 seats. Trinamool has 19, DMK 18, BSP 21 and NCP 9.

With clumsy party management and a degree of political haughtiness after a stronger-than-expected election victory last year, Congress managed to lose some allies among lawmakers and annoy others, leaving it weaker in parliament.

Its vulnerability was exposed in April when the government scraped through a parliamentary vote over high prices with the support of 289 members, just 16 over the half-way mark, a sign of how close a vote can go if the opposition effectively unites or more allies abandon the coalition.

Can the regional parties stall reforms?
They have. Opposition from parties such as the Trinamool has stalled several bills, from the introduction of foreign universities into India to the opening up of the retail, insurance and pension sectors to foreign companies.

 A bill which limits nuclear firms' liability in case of industrial accidents is also stalled in parliament as the government tries to garner political support. Laws to reform land holdings and labour are also on hold.

So what is the future of reforms?
The left-of-centre Congress will find it difficult to get the support of the smaller regional allies for any legislation that involves making painful adjustments by voters.

But many investors remain optimistic India eventually will take steps to open the insurance, banking and retail sectors to overseas players, and India has too much potential for them to ignore the country in any case.

Incremental progress on structural reforms is the best they can hope for in a country of more than a billion people and 20 official languages still emerging from a socialist past.

Eventually, the coalition’s stability will determine the fate of politically contentious proposals. But not all reform will need legislation, and the government has already approved cuts in fertiliser subsidies and raised fuel prices to reduce the fiscal deficit. Sales of stakeBut weakness in parliament sends a signal across India’s political spectrum.

Plans to streamline tax revenues, for example, depend on each of India’s 28 states agreeing, and political bickering among the ruling party’s allies will do nothing to help that.s in state companies are also under way.