New Delhi: Putting up a brave front in the wake of the debacle in Andhra Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (May 11, 2004) asserted that the outcome would not influence the Lok Sabha poll results and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would form the Government with over 300 seats.

Party sources, however, maintained that top BJP leaders have been put on the job of "contacting" prospective allies including Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

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"We gracefully accept the verdict of the people of Andhra Pradesh, which was certainly against our expectations. We will discuss the reasons for our defeat, assess our shortcomings and take steps to increase our strength," party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi.

He asserted that the Lok Sabha results would not be influenced by the outcome of the Assembly polls. He cited the precedence of the simultaneous polls in Maharashtra in 1999 when the BJP-Shiv Sena Government was voted out, but the combine bagged 28 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats at stake in the State.

"Going by our feedback and ground realities, we are confident of forming the Government at the Centre with over 300 seats under Vajpayee's leadership," he said.

Naqvi said the party had no regrets over the decision to advance the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh. The move was "well-thought out", keeping in view the ground circumstances and the political climate at that point of time, he said.

He, however, conceded that Telangana issue "influenced" the poll results in Andhra Pradesh.