The Congress won the assembly elections with a reduced victory margin compared to 2001, yet the win was significant for more than one reason - for the first time in 30 years Assam voted a party back-to-back twice.

The Congress and its lone tribal Bodo ally bagged 65 seats in the 126-member state legislature compared to the ruling party on its own winning 71 seats in the 2001 elections. The main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a regional party, won 24 seats - a gain of just four seats compared to the last elections.

Peace and development were the twin mantras that the Congress party led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi harped on in the run-up to the elections - while the two slogans worked wonders for the ruling party, it proved to be the ultimate nail in the AGP's coffin.

"Peace and development were not mere elections slogans. This is a reality," Gogoi told IANS.

Assam has been witnessing relative calm - the BLT is over ground, and the two main militant groups, the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), are in peace mode.

Development in the infrastructure sector, particularly roads, got a major boost during the past five years, besides the fiscal scenario improving considerably as well.

"We shall now try to bring lasting peace and rapid economic development," the chief minister said.

The positives apart, the victory of the Congress was made easy with a highly fragmented opposition.

The AGP was a divided house and was led by a not too shrewd leader in Brindaban Goswami. Last year the AGP suffered a major setback after two-time former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta formed a splinter faction following his expulsion for alleged anti-party activities.

This split had severely impacted the AGP - Mahanta's party candidates had cut into the opposition vote base.

"The AGP had failed to push the regional agenda forward and so the people lost its confidence," Samujjal Bhattacharyya, leader of the powerful All Assam Students' Union, said.

The AGP allied with the left parties this time not realising that the red brigade in Assam is not a winning combination.

"The big mistake the AGP made was not taking a bold regional approach and instead adopted a middle path by taking support of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) at times and on other occasions talking to radical Muslim groups like the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF)," an analyst said.

"Had the AGP maintained a distinct position of keepings its regional identity intact, the people would have accepted the party."

The Congress on the other hand had openly declared before the results were announced that it would prefer sitting in the opposition but never take support of the AUDF to form a government.

The Congress victory for the second successive term could now stymie the growth of regionalism and all indicators suggest the AGP might find it extremely hard to strengthen its support base having to remain in political wilderness for another five years.

"Regionalism might become irrelevant in Assam unless the AGP is handled well by a new set of leaders," a disheartened AGP leader said.