New Delhi, May 13
There was pall of gloom in the BJP headquarters here today as the Congress-led alliance, beating all pollsters predictions, emerged as the single largest group and closest to the magic figure of 272 seats.
Though visibly dejected BJP leaders admitted that there were “undercurrents” against the NDA, they consciously tried to defend Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and rejected the suggestion that the verdict against the NDA as the dilusion of Vajpayee’s charisma.
“The verdict should not be construed as a verdict against Mr Vajpayee...despite the NDA’s poor performance, Mr Vajpayee continues to be the most popular leader,”
outgoing Union Minister Arun Jaitley said.
Asserting that issues at the state-level dominated over the national issues, Mr Jaitley said the stunning defeats of NDA in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar hit the alliance hard.
“Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had accounted for major losses for NDA, with the alliance giving away 56 seats in these together, while the performance of NDA remain far below expectations in Bihar,” he said.
