Question

hat happened to the central state relations when different parties ruled at the central and state levels till 1990.

Answer 1

Before 1990, India had been ruled mostly by Congress party governments. This was true both at the central and state level. Since the same party was usually in power in both centre and states, state governments were usually subservient to the centre. These governments often did whatever the central government asked them to do. On the rare occasions when states were under different parties, the central government could threaten to dismiss them and impose President's Rule if those state governments did not follow the directives of the centre.

However, after 1990, different parties started ruling at the central and state levels. As a result, the state governments became more assertive. They would no longer meekly follow the centre's orders. Moreover, by the time, it also became more difficult to threaten state government with dismissal and imposition of President's Rule. The Supreme Court started to intervene and stop the arbitrary imposition of President's rule. As a result, state governments started to lose their fear of the centre and started to assert their rights under the Constitution.