New Delhi: Stunning electoral reversal notwithstanding, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will continue to be the leader of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which will sit in the Opposition, NDA convener George Fernandes said today (May 13, 2004).

Emerging from the meeting of top NDA leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Venkaiah Naidu, he said, "Vajpayee will continue to be the leader of the NDA and we will sit in the Opposition.

Elections 2004-Where is India heading...
Political Parties in India

"We will have nothing to do with the formation of a Government," Fernandes said.

Asked if he would own the moral responsibility for the debacle and quit as NDA convener, he said, "Nobody has asked for my resignation and I have not offered... the NDA convener has a limited task and I have done my task... should the NDA parties feel that I should be out of it, I shall quit."

On whether Vajpayee would be the leader of the Opposition, both Fernandes and BJP president Naidu said that the issue would be decided by the newly elected MPs.

Replying to a query whether Vajpayee had taken the responsibility for the defeat, Naidu said, "Everybody is taking the responsibility... we have called the meeting of Parliamentary Board tomorrow and we will review and assess the situation."

Asked if Vajpayee was dejected, Fernandes said, "The Prime Minister is a veteran of many, many such battles. There is no way of he being dejected."

Admitting that the BJP's stronghold in Gujarat was breached, Naidu hedged the query whether hindutva and Chief Minister Narendra Modi were the reasons for the debacle.

"We have to look at all these aspects before we arrive at a conclusion," he said.

Nevertheless, both Naidu and Fernandes asserted that 'India Shining' had not dimmed NDA's image and the Government had done a lot for the common people.

"I am saying India is shining even now," Naidu quipped.

On whether NDA agenda would still be continued, Fernandes replied in the affirmative saying it would remain "our agenda... Any conclusion that the agenda has been rejected by the people is not right."

Fernandes dubbed as "unfortunate" for Bihar the poll results, which had gone in favour of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress combine.