MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has claimed the BJP will face defeat in the Bihar and Delhi Assembly polls to be held next year, and said the saffron party's downslide started with Gujarat elections.
Referring to the BJP's defeat in the Jharkhand Assembly polls, he said the Amit Shah-led party claimed it will clinch more than 65 seats of the total 81, but did not manage to get even half of it.
The JMM-led three-party alliance stormed to power in Jharkhand on Monday by winning 47 seats, ousting the BJP which bagged 25 seats.
"The BJP's downslide in state elections started with the Gujarat polls. It will face defeat in the Bihar and Delhi Assembly polls as well," Chavan said in a statement.
He said the Congress central leadership did not campaign with full vigour like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah did in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls.
"Still, the BJP lost these three states. This shows people are not voting for the BJP in state polls," he noted.
Chavan said poverty has risen in Jharkhand in the last five years.
"Forty-six per cent of population in Jharkhand lives below poverty line. Unemployment in Jharkhand is at its peak due to industrial and service sectors being hit," he said.
Chavan said that Modi, during his recent in Delhi, did not touch upon the pressing issues of economy, unemployment and farm crisis.
"People of the country are watching this attitude of the central government," he said.
The Congress will now take on the BJP over these issues of economy, farm crisis and unemployment, he added.