Amit Shah takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi: I received a message on WhatsApp that elections are being held in Italy

New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the Assembly election results in three Northeast states.

Addressing a press conference, he said on a lighter note, "I received a message on WhatsApp that elections are being held in Italy."

Shah said today his party's victories in the Left's citadel Tripura and Nagaland were and endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership by the people of the Northeast.

A jubilant Shah said the BJP's golden era would be when its wrests West Bengal, Odisha and Karnataka from rival parties.

"It is a day of joy for me and crores of BJP workers. The victory of the BJP is important in many ways....It is an endorsement of the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the people of the Northeast," he told a press conference.

The BJP and its ally IPFT were close to securing a majority in Tripura having together won 28 seats in the 60-member House. They were leading in 15 more. Elections were held in the state for 59 seats due to the death of a CPI-M candidate.

In Nagaland, the BJP and its ally NDPP have won 13 seats and are leading in 14. The ruling Naga People's Front, with which the BJP parted ways just before the elections, has won 13 seats and was leading in 12 others in the 60-member Assembly. In Nagaland too, elections were held for only 59 seats as NDPP leaders Neiphiu Rio was declared elected unopposed.

Meghalaya appeared set to have a hung Assembly.

Shah ruled out the possibility of the BJP, whose NDA partner National People's Party has won 19 seats, engaging in horse-trading in Meghalaya. The two NDA allies had, however, contested the elections separately. BJP has won two seats in the state where the Congress has won 19 seats so far and was ahead in two.

"Where is the question of 'tod-phod' (horse-trading). The Congress does not have a majority there," he said.