In the early years, the same party ruled both at the Centre and in most of the States. But in the states where the rival parties ruled, the central government often misused its power to dismiss the state governments. This undermined the spirit of federalism. But after 1990, there was a rise of regional parties in many states of the country. It was at this time that since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many parties, including several regional parties to form a government at the Centre. This led to the era of coalition government – a new culture of power- sharing and respect for the autonomy of state governments.