In Marathon Meet Today, Amit Shah To Discuss BJP's Election Rout

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah met BJP MPs today for the first time after the party suffered its worse state election defeats since taking power at the centre in 2014.

The parliamentary party meet will be followed by a seven-hour meeting of key organisational leaders with Amit Shah.

PM Modi's address to BJP parliamentarians is a weekly affair when parliament is in session but this time, it has greater significance because of the BJP's state election losses just months before the national election. But PM Modi did not any comments on the election debacle. 

On Tuesday, the BJP lost three big states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, to the Congress. Its attempt to widen its base in Telangana failed as its tally fell from five to one seat. In Mizoram, the BJP won one seat while the opposition Mizo National Front decimated the ruling Congress.

Amit Shah will hold discussions with top party leaders later in the day, at the BJP headquarters, for what is likely to be a long meeting till late into the evening.

The meeting was planned before the results were announced, according to sources quoted by the Press Trust of India. Mr Shah is likely to discuss why the BJP lost in the state elections and what lessons the party can learn in the run-up to the 2019 national elections.

PM Modi had tweeted on Tuesday that "the party accepts the results with humility" and that "victory and defeat are an integral part of life". He said the results would further the BJP's resolve to serve people and the party will work even harder for the development of India.

The losses for the BJP in the heartland states are huge - the party won 62 seats of the 65 Lok Sabha constituencies in the three states in 2014. The party needs to put up a strong show in these states in the 2019 national polls for anything close to its spectacular performance in the last elections.