With the results of five assembly polls delivering a chastening blow to BJP’s electoral juggernaut and virtually decimating its main rival Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s massive victory over the formidable saffron machinery may help bring regional satraps to the fore of the national politics yet again, analysts believe.

Under flak from the opposition for its government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the BJP’s big loss in West Bengal polls has denied the party a face-saver it might have hoped for to claim the popular endorsement for its policies and has lent further ballast to the view that it often falls short against a popular regional force. While the BJP will draw some satisfaction from its comfortable win in Assam, the overall mood in the party was sombre as it appeared drawing a blank in Kerala and also fared poorly in Tamil Nadu where its senior ally AIADMK was set to lose power to rival DMK but defied some exit poll predictions of its rout. The BJP-led NDA, however, trumped its rivals in Puducherry.