soaring prices of everyday items.

Congress politicians played down the significance of the defeats. Jyotiraditya Scindia, a Congress party minister, said the state elections are "a mandate on state-level issues … not a mandate on any person's leadership or for 2014".

The coming election is being seen as a contest between Congress's Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, and Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat and the BJP's declared prime ministerial candidate. Both campaigned for the recent polls.

Modi, three times chief minister of Gujarat, is a Hindu nationalist whose reputation has been tarnished by allegations that he failed to protect Muslims during sectarian rioting in Gujarat in 2002. The 63-year-old is, however, popular with the business community and among many urban voters.

Analysts were split over howfar Modi's vigorous campaigning of recent months had contributed to the BJP's strong showing.

"It's impossible to quantify a Modi factor in state elections but it's a very good result for the BJP and gives them a real springboard for the contest next spring," said Swapan Dasgupta, a political analyst.

Vinod Sharma, political editor of the Hindustan Times, said that the defeats for Congress were less to do with Modi and more a display of local dissatisfaction with the national Congress-led coalition government.

The Congress party's poor performance in the state assembly elections will lead to further questioning of Gandhi's leadership abilities.

Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress party watches her son Rahul, the vice-president address the media as the party's results disappointing results came in. Photograph: Reuters

Some analysts have contrasted