Author: IANS
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: May 31, 2009
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090531/818/tnl-bjp-introspecting-but-don-t-exaggera.html?printer=1
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader
L.K. Advani, who was Sunday elected leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha,
told his party's MPs that the election results were 'disappointing' and 'introspection'
was on in the organisation. He, however, asked his party not to 'exaggerate
the scale of the defeat'.
'Just as the nature of the defeat should not
be downplayed, it should not be exaggerated either,' he said, voicing his
views on the poll debacle for the first time a fortnight after the results.
'We need to find out why we won less than
the expected number of seats in states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra,' Advani, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) prime
ministerial candidate, told the MPs at their meeting here this evening.
He assured the MPs that the party leadership
'has begun the exercise of introspection, analysis and corrective action with
the seriousness that it deserves. It will be a thoroughgoing exercise'. He
added that no factor will be overlooked.
'We have to find out why our performance was
poor in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand
and Orissa,' he added.
He exhorted the MPs not to be disheartened
and said that 'with 116 MPs in Lok Sabha, 47 in Rajya Sabha and governments
in eight states, the BJP continues to be a formidable force in Indian politics.'