Assembly election results not favourable for BJP, but not right to link them with 2019 Lok Sabha polls: Amit Shah

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday admitted that the assembly election results in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh were not "favourable" for the saffron party, adding that it was also not right to link the outcomes of the three states to the crucial Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The BJP chief was speaking at an event organised by English news channel Republic in Mumbai.

His remarks come as the BJP suffered a massive jolt in the three key states, while Congress managed to make a stunning entry.

In Chhattisgarh, the Congress party made an impressive comeback after a long gap of 15 years by winning 68 seats in the 90 seat assembly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party was relegated to a distant second spot, winning just 15 seats. BSP and Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh won in two and five constituencies each.

BJP's ambition to claim victory in Rajasthan suffered a major setback when Congress emerged as the single-largest party by winning 99 seats while BJP managed to get only 73 seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party won six seats, while CPI (M) won 2, Independents for 13 and other parties managed six seats.

In Madhya Pradesh, Congress got 114 seats in the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Assembly, along with support from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party paving the way for returning to power in the central state after a gap of nearly 15 years.

"The results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh definitely not favourable for BJP, but it is not right to link them with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," Shah said at the event today.

"State polls can't be linked to Lok Sabha poll results; both elections fought on separate issues," he added.