Prime minister Manmohan Singh was the first Congress prime minister outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to get a second consecutive term in 2009.
Rise of Congress, further decline of BJP and the relegation of the Left and some regional parties to the margins marked the highs and lows of politics in 2009 as price spiral poses an intense challenge to the government in the new year along with Naxal and cross-border terror.
The sudden demise of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash saw Congress flounder in Andhra Pradesh, a state he had delivered to the party on a platter in two consecutive elections.
Topping it, the Centre tied itself up in knots over the separate Telangana by its flip-flop as the year wrapped up.
2009 turned out to be a watershed year for Indian politics with Congress' good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, especially displaying revival signs in a state like Uttar Pradesh that has also raised hopes of its comeback in the Hindi heartland.
Against the backdrop of Mumbai terror attacks and the negative effects of a global downturn, the Congress campaign in the May elections was it was no time to experiment with any new combination.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh was the first Congress prime minister outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to get a second consecutive term. In fact, the Congress tally of over 200 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, 50 seats more than it got in 2004, surprised even many a Congressman.
No political party had got such numbers after 1991 with election after election witnessing a fractured verdict. The year ringing out will be remembered for the failure of the BJP as also the Left parties to get their act together and virtually living in a different world which came crashing after the electoral verdict of May 16.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat led the charge of the Third Front which consisted the BSP, RLD, JD-S, AIADMK and the Left parties, which came a cropper. In fact the elections generally did not turn out to be good for many regional parties barring the likes of Navin Patnaik's BJD and Nitish Kumar's JD (United).
The BJP got nothing right despite projecting LK Advani, its 'iron man' as the 'strong' leader in comparison with a 'weak' Manmohan Singh as much water had flown from the Ganga since the Ayodhya issue took it to the centrestage.
BJP was in the battle gear too early but the tactics and strategy of the Congress appeared to have stumped it with the ruling party projecting the "trinity" of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi to telling effect.
It was a year when Rahul Gandhi came into his own as a leader as he successfully led the battle in key Uttar Pradesh giving sleepless nights to the BSP and the SP.
The Firozabad Lok Sabha bypoll in which Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Dimple was defeated, was indicative of the changing winds.With BJP's tally in the Lok Sabha reduced from 138 to 116, it was time for a generational change as 52-year-old Nitin Gadkari took over the reins from Rajnath Singh while Advani himself made way for Sushma Swaraj as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The Left parties got the severest drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections held in the backdrop of the Nandigram incident and the developments at Singur in West Bengal which were exploited to the hilt by Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee.
In fact, the Left parties are facing a threat to their very existence as their strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala were shaken to the roots and the assembly elections there are scheduled for 2011.
A highlight of the Lok Sabha elections was that generally those parties and leaders among UPA and allies who sided with Congress, survived or thrived, while those who tried to sideline it, almost fell by the wayside.
For instance, Lalu Prasad's RJD was down from 27 to just four and Ram Vilas Paswan met his waterloo with his LJP drawing a blank after they parted ways with Congress.
Almost similar was the fate of Samajwadi Party, which had helped the UPA-I survive after the withdrawal of the Left support to the Government. Its tally dipped from 39 to 22.
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