As expected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the star campaigner for the BJP in the just-concluded Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, put up a brave face yesterday when newsmen pestered him with queries on the BJP’s debacle and humiliating defeats in the three States of MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where it has been voted out of power.

“We accept people’s mandate with humility,” he said and added that he congratulated Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the party’s impressive show in the above-said three States. He also lauded K. Chandrasekhara Rao Garu for TRS’ thumping win in Telangana. Modi also had a few words of praise for the Mizo National Front (MNF) which beat both the Congress and the BJP out of sight in wresting power in Mizoram.

Sources from the national capital said that Modi immediately went into deep discussions with senior party leaders including party president Amit Shah. Details of what transpired at the meeting were, however, not made available to the press.