 "Cong fails to capitalise on 2018 wins; BJP set to sweep 3 heartland states")
With counting underway for Lok Sabha elections 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on its way to wrest back the key Hindi heartland states it had lost to the Congress in the Assembly elections last year, proving BJP President Amit Shah's remarks after the 2018 loss true.
Addressing the BJP National Council in January 2019, Amit Shah had said that although the party had lost in the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, it had not been defeated yet.
According to agency reports, Shah had said: "Recently, three election results were not good. But I want to tell party workers that our opponents have won but we have not been defeated." The Rajya Sabha MP had also said, "But the BJP has not lost its ground in these three states. Our workers have to keep the faith and they have the opportunity in 2019 to form a foundation for a strong government."
At the time of the filing of the copy, the BJP had been leading on 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress was leading on just one. In Rajasthan, the BJP was leading on 24 seats, while the Congress was again leading on one. Meanwhile in Chhattisgarh, the BJP was leading on nine seats, while the Congress leading on only two. Clearly, as the results come in, the Congress seems to have been unable to translate its success in the three states to national polls.
The trends come as a surprise in Chhattisgarh, where Congress had won 68 seats out of the 90 in the assembly polls. The BJP, which had ruled the state for 15 years, managed to win only 15.
In Rajasthan, the Congress had won 99 seats out of the 200. One short of the majority, the party managed to form the government with the help of one seat won by its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Lastly, in Madhya Pradesh, it had emerged as a leading party with 114 seats after a cliff hanger fight.
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