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NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (AFP) - India's ruling BJP party suffered a series of setbacks in crucial state polls Sunday, losing out to regional parties in the key state of Uttar Pradesh and ceding power to the main opposition Congress party in two others.

The results pointed to a rejection of the Hindu nationalist BJP's campaign which had ignored local issues and instead called for a patriotic vote of confidence in the central government's tough anti-terrorist stance, which has resulted in a tense military face-off on the border with rival Pakistan.

The BJP chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, quit his post as returns pointed to a hung result with the local Samajwadi Party emerging as the single largest party in what is India's most populous and politically most important state.

"There cannot be one reason for the defeat. If we have not won, I take all the responsibility as I was heading the government," Singh said in the state capital, Lucknow.

In declared results for 266 of the seats in the 403-member assembly, the Samajwadi party had secured 100, against 61 for the caste-based BSP party and 57 for the BJP.

The 115-year-old Congress party, headed by Sonia Gandhi, made a triumphal return to power after five years in the northern state of Punjab and wrested the administration from the BJP in the newly-created state of Uttaranchal.

Congress was also the clear leader in the remote northeastern state of Manipur.

"It is a clear verdict against the BJP. We were not expecting more than this," Gandhi said.

The results were worse than expected for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's party, although analysts said there was no immediate threat to the national multi-party coalition government in New Delhi which the BJP dominates.

"The situation in parliament is no different... and no party seems to be in a position to form an alternative coalition to Vajpayee's government," said political analyst Kiran Saxena.

Law Minister Arun Jaitley insisted that the BJP's allies in the central government would stand firm.

"The coalition in the centre is united by its anti-Congress sentiment and this sentiment will keep us together and there is no danger to our government," Jaitley said.

The victors in Uttar Pradesh, however, said the results showed that the BJP's days were numbered.

"The prime minister and his coalition should call for general elections to check out their popularity, which does not exist," said Amar Singh, of the Samajwadi Party.

With no party achieving a decisive majority in Uttar Pradesh, the stage was set for a period of intense horse-trading as the regional rivals searched for possible alliances to form a workable administration.

"It is extremely difficult to see how the BJP can get the support of either the Samajwadi party or the BSP to get past the 203 mark as the parties are bitter rivals of each other," Saxena said.

"But then in politics nothing can be ruled out."

Voting in the state was spread over three days to cope with an electorate of close to 100 million people, half of whom voted.

Uttar Pradesh, besides boasting India's largest provincial legislature, also returns 85 MPs to the 545-seat national parliament. 

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