Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated the partyfor the election results in Maharashtra and Haryana, saying these days, it isno mean achievement for a party to get consecutive terms in power in a state.The BJP will come back in power in Maharashtra and in Haryana, it has emergedas the single largest party.

"These are unprecedented victories because normallythese days few governments return after five years. In such times to be electedagain is a big deal," PM Modi told party workers, attributing the victoryto the hard work of Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and ML Khattar.

The BJP had lost two heartland states - Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh -- to the Congress in the last round of elections held in December,months before the Lok Sabha elections. The results - first after the party'slandslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections - are expected to bolster theparty at a time the opposition had tried to redirect focus to local issues likefarmer suicides and unemployment.

What made the scale of the achievement larger was that theteams that led the government in both states were relatively new, the PrimeMinister said. Not so long ago, the party had to be the junior partner toregional heavyweights in both states, he pointed out.

In both Maharashtra and Haryana, the teams formed after thevictory in the 2014 elections were relatively new, the Prime Minister said. Inthis context, high praise went to the BJP team in Haryana.

"People who know Haryana politics, they must know if wehad to form an alliance with a party in the state, we had to fight on seats oftheir choice. This was a condition before 2014. It would be a big deal if weeven touched double digits... To come from there to where we are today isremarkable," he said. Similarly in Maharashtra, the party had been juniorpartner to Shiv Sena till the sweeping victory in the 2014 general elections,he said.

In a state like Maharashtra, where the country's financialcapital, Mumbai, is located, political stability accounts for a lot, the PrimeMinister said.

Even so, "For years, parties with two-thirds majoritycould not last," he said, adding that Devendra Fadnavis was the firstChief Minister in Maharashtra in 50 years, who not only served the fullfive-year term, but also got re-elected.

This, he indicated, was due to the nature of the BJP,"which takes everyone along - a remark seen as a dig to cantankerous allyShiv Sena.

The Sena, which had been one of the biggest critics of PMModi's policies over the last five years, is now insisting on a 50:50 formulathat would give it a shot at the Chief Minister's post for two-and-a-halfyears. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray has insisted that the BJP honour theagreement made during Amit Shah's visit to his home ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections