Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to congratulate them on the victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Nitish also took to Twitter to take potshots at his erstwhile Grand Alliance partner, saying: "Congress, which used to claim victory in Gujarat, lost Himachal Pradesh too."

Nitish had on several occasions earlier predicted a big win for the BJP in Gujarat. "The people of Gujarat will never vote against son of the soil (read Modi)," he had reasoned.

Janata Dal United leaders are clear that in spite of the reduced tally, the result in Gujarat, where the BJP has been ruling for the last 22 years, will set the trend for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

JDU legislator and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told The Telegraph: "Nitishji had predicted a BJP victory in Gujarat as it happened to be the home state of the PM while RJD chief Lalu Prasad had predicted its loss. But neither Lalu nor his son Tejashwi (Yadav) was invited by the Congress to campaign in the coastal state."

"Rahul Gandhi is ready to have lunch with Tejashwi, but is not ready to share the dais with tainted persons. This distance between the Congress and RJD will increase now, and will impact Opposition alliances for 2019," Neeraj added.