Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who returned home after a weekend trip to Italy, on Monday said his party respected the mandate of the people of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya where the Congress failed to come to power in the recently-concluded assembly polls.

In a tweet, Gandhi said the Congress had accepted the mandate but would strive to win back the trust of the electorate in the northeast.

"The Congress party respects the mandate of the people of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.We are committed to strengthening our party across the northeast and to winning back the trust of the people.

"My sincere thanks to each and every Congress worker who toiled for the party," Gandhi tweeted in the aftermath of the election results.

Gandhi who has in Italy to meet his grand-mother when the election results were announced. He returned home early Monday morning.

The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 21 seats in Meghalaya but drew a blank in Nagaland and Tripura.

Even in Meghalaya it didn't get enough numbers to form government. The BJP which won two seats in the state cobbled together an alliance with National People's Party (19), UDP (6), PDF (4), HSPDP (2) and independent (1) to form a majority in the House of 60-member Assembly.