With election trends suggesting the NDA making huge gains, UPA ally Nationalist Congress Party Thursday conceded defeat of the alliance in the Lok Sabha polls, saying "unfortunately" the Congress' performance was not up to the mark.
Saffron party leaders have attributed the performance to the "leadership" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, and termed it "historic".
The BJP, on its own, is leading in over 290 seats, while its main rival Congress is ahead in 52 of the 542 Lok Sabha constituencies that went to polls across the country.
The NCP is leading at four seats.
"We have some setbacks and we find that unfortunately the Congress didn't perform up to the mark," senior NCP leader Majeed Memon told a private news channel.
If the trends stay until final results, the BJP would have improved on its 2014 performance when it had won 282 seats on its own in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Adding the seats won by its allies, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance could win 343 seats, up from 336 in 2014.
Swaraj India president and political analyst Yogendra Yadav told a private TV channel, "This is clear mandate for the Modi-led BJP government...Caste combination looks good on paper but merely caste combination does not work. You need a big loud message that opposition did not have."
BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma said,"Hard work pays.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah worked very hard...Let me tell you there is no TINA (there in no alternative) factor. Its pro-incumbency votes."
BJP's Tripura in-charge Sunil V Deodhar said,"The election results in Bengal show that people are angry with Banerjee.People are under threat. The TMC has failed on all fronts."
While Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told a TV channel the days of Banerjee are numbered, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said the people of Bengal were "fed up" with Banerjee, and that is why BJP is winning