People are kingmaker: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee before departing for INDIA bloc meet in Delhi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose TMC won 29 of 42 seats dashing BJP's hope for gains, sent Abhishek as the party representative to the big INDIA meet taking place in Delhi on Wednesday.

Before departing for Delhi, Abhishek told reporters at the airport, "A month back these BJP leaders who were flying down to Bengal lectured that give us 30 seats and Didi's govt will fall. Now see the irony, you media people are asking me if the NDA govt will survive? Never underestimate the power of a common man!"

"I must say the kingmaker is the general public and not any political leader. Those who voted against the price hike, BJP's tyranny, communal & divisive politics - each and every poor & common man who voted are the actual Kingmakers," he added.

On the Opposition's spectacular comeback in UP politics, the TMC number two man said, "This shows people's anger was at its peak against the BJP. You (BJP) made Ram Mandir an agenda throughout the country claiming that you (BJP) brought the Lord inside the temple.

"How can you say that? Can a human being do that? No wonder Ayodhya defeated you. Prabhu Ram aae to Insaaf Aaya."

Lok Sabha election results

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday returned for a rare third consecutive term in office with his allies, but fell short of an absolute majority for his BJP, in an election that gave a new lease of life to a Congress-led disparate Opposition bloc- INDIA-  as the anti-Modi union halted the saffron juggernaut to under 300.

Modi, who is set to be the second Prime Minister after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to return to office for third consecutive term, had kickstarted the campaign for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) setting the target for 370 seats and 400 for the NDA alliance.

Quite contrary to the "Abki bar 400 par" or "400 plus seats this time" slogan, Modi's BJP failed to achieve the majority mark (272) on its own, paving way for a return of a coalition government trend after a decade.

In what would trigger the debate of anti-incumbency setting in, Modi's BJP could manage to get to 240 while NDA touched 291, a comfortable figure to run the government but at the mercy of regional parties like .

As a slew of exit polls that gave a clear majority to Modi proved wrong, even in the win of the NDA, the celebrations are louder in the  INDIA Bloc after they bagged a higher than expected number of seats.

Though several political pundits, opinion and exit polls had almost written off the Opposition, Congress (99 seats) led INDIA comprising several key regional players in offering a close contest to the incumbent.

After BJP stopped at 240 odd seats, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar emerged as the key players in forming the next government, which is expected to be headed by Modi again considering his number.