The CPI(M) on Wednesday said the Congress had suffered a "setback" in the recent assembly election and the BJP was "not seen as a credible alternative" to that party.

The CPI(M) had also performed "poorly" in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the party Politburo said in a statement, adding that this underlined the need to strengthen its mass activities and organisations in these states.

Terming the victory of Samajwadi Party in UP as "remarkable", it said the verdict was not only against the Mayawati government, but the people had rejected the BJP and the Congress too.

It said a part of the failure of the Congress "can be attributed to the people's discontent against price rise and corruption for which they hold the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre responsible."

"The BJP in particular has failed to make any headway. The results show also that the BJP is not seen as a credible alternative to the Congress," it said, adding that while the BJP's seats have been reduced in Punjab, it lost in Uttarakhand and did not perform well in UP.

Observing that the overall results in five states "constitute a setback for the Congress", the CPI(M) said while it lost in Goa and Punjab, it "fared badly" in UP and "just managed to be ahead by one seat in Uttarakhand wherein too it should have gained from the anti-incumbency factor".

While the sole exception for the Congress was the outright victory in Manipur, the CPI(M) said this has "no wider significance given the abnormal and specific conditions prevailing there."