Modi wave sweeps Uttar Pradesh as BJP celebrates early Holi; Cong takes Punjab

In Uttar Pradesh so far, the result projects that BJP is nearing to win 309 seats leaving behind SP-CONG alliance by a big margin.

The Samajwadi-Congress alliance are ahead in only 68 seats. BSP of Mayawait is leading in 22.

In UP, the BJP's lead is a big gain of 261 over its tally of 48 seats in the 2012 assembly election. To form a government it only needs 202.

In Punjab, the Congress is leading in 72 seats, surging much ahead of the halfway figure of 59.  AAP was projected as a winner too but it trailed much behind Congress at 27 while the ruling Akali Dal-BJP leading in only 18.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, results of three other states like Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur are coming out.

According to  trends, Congress is leading in Goa with 13, BJP in a big way in Uttarakhand with 52 while in Manipur the BJP and Congress are having close fight.

Elections of all states were held in phases and the last phase of election ended on March 8.

Reactions meanwhile started pouring in along with celebrations.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as a messiah of the poor now with his measures and the UP poll results are a tectonic shift in Indian politics," said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad

"You cannot explain this result in a simple way. It is a tectonic shift in politics of India. I think young Muslims also voted for us," said Prasad, speaking to a TV channel.

"I would say whole UP went for change. Modi is seen as a leader of the poor,  messiah of the poor. The limitation of Bihar perhaps we overcame here in UP," he said.

Another BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said the results even surpassed her own estimation of seat tally in UP and in this election the result was not owing to polarisation but constructive politics.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said a mandate for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is what the Opposition has to accept as he emphasised on building young and regional leadership for Congress but ruled out Rahul Gandhi quitting as the Congress vice-president since the Gandhi family is the binding factor in the party.

"This is the mandate of the people and we have to accept that. Time has come for national parties and this is also somewhat a downslide for the regional parties," he told a national TV channel.

"Congress has to build up regional leadership. We have to build up new leaderships in the state," he said.

To a question on Rahul Gandhi stepping down, Singh said that is not possible. He said the Nehru Gandhi factor is the biggest binding factor for the Congress party.

"We have to take decisive action on what we have to do in regional levels to have new leaders," he said.

A senior Congress leader earlier said the parties should now move beyond Modi phobia and campaign.

PARTY POSITIONS AT 1230:

UTTAR PRADESH:  BJP+310,  SP-CONG 63,  BSP 22,  OTH 8

PUNJAB: INC 75,  SAD+ 23,   AAP+19,  OTH  0

UTTARAKHAND: BJP 55,   INC 11,  OTH 4

GOA:  INC 10,  BJP 8, OTH 8

MANIPUR: BJP 13,  INC 11, OTH  9,  PRJA  0