New Delhi, Dec 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Congress for its victory in assembly polls Tuesday and said the BJP, which has suffered reverses in the elections, accepts people's mandate with humility.

In a tweet, Modi also congratulated Telangana Chief Minister K C Rao for his party's landslide win in the state and Mizo National Front (MNF) for its victory in Mizoram.

With the BJP suffering setbacks in its strongholds, Modi sought to boost the morale of its workers, saying they worked day and night and that he saluted their hard work.

"Victory and defeat are an integral part of life. Today's results will further our resolve to serve people and work even harder for the development of India," Modi said.

In another tweet, he said, "Congratulations to the Congress for their victories. Congratulations to KCR Garu for the thumping win in Telangana and to the Mizo National Front (MNF) for their impressive victory in Mizoram."

The prime minister thanked the people of Hindi heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for giving the BJP the opportunity to serve.

"The BJP governments in these states worked tirelessly for the welfare of the people," Modi said.

BJP president Amit Shah congratulated K C Rao.

A resurgent Congress Tuesday made significant gains in the assembly elections, dealing a body blow to the BJP in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and was locked in a cliffhanger in Madhya Pradesh.

The assembly polls held for five states also saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) recording a landslide win for a second consecutive term and the MNF scripting a spectacular victory dislodging the Congress in its last bastion in the Northeast to return to power after 10 years.

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Kochi (PTI): Congress leader V D Satheesan on Saturday agreed that women ought to have been given more seats in the upcoming Assembly polls.

The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly said that the party wanted to give more seats to women in the Assembly polls.

"We wanted to give more seats. Even I am not satisfied with that issue. It (seats given) was not enough," he told reporters at Paravoor here.

His response comes a day after Congress national spokesperson Shama Mohamed expressed dissatisfaction over the low representation of women in the party's candidate list for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 9.

Regarding queries related to the UDF support for former CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, the opposition leader said that he has a lot of respect for the Marxist veteran who was a "fair minister" when he was in government.

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"He (Sudhakaran) does not lie. He was a fair minister. He distributed funds to all MLAs equally. I still respect him. He took a stand, and after that, we politically backed him," Satheesan said.

He also said that he was greatly indebted to former MLA and Congress Joseph Vazhakan, who had brought him back to the political mainstream.

"So, I am greatly indebted to him. He loved me like a brother. I am sad that even in my current position, I could not ensure a seat for him," he said.

Vazhakan had on Friday expressed his disappointment over being denied a seat at the last moment, as he had printed election posters and banners in preparation to contest in the polls.

He, however, had said that he would remain committed to the party despite the setback.

Vazhakan had said that his name had been under consideration for the Ettumannur constituency, but the Congress on Thursday decided to field DCC president Nattakom Suresh from the seat.

Satheesan, while speaking to reporters, also said that there was nothing wrong with posters being put up in the name of any Congress leader.

"We have no problems with that as the team Congress is united. The CM candidate has already been decided. It's CPI(M) narrative that there are problems in the Congress, there are no issues in the party," he said in response to reporters' queries about posters of K C Venugopal being put up in many places of the state.