New Delhi: Breaking his silence for the first time after BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today (May 28, 2004) said that no other "party, group or any individual" had been able to secure people's mandate.

Admitting that BJP could not muster the mandate of the people once again, Advani, addressing a press conference, said that anybody observing the elections will accept that "no party, group or definitely not any individual has got the mandate".

Describing the poll results as "fractured and divided", Advani said, "We never expected such a verdict and it won't be wrong to say that nobody else also expected this including our rivals who are in the Government now."

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Asserting that the election result implied that people wanted "broad consensus" to be the basis of policies to be implemented", the senior BJP leader said, "I hope Government understands (meaning of this verdict) and acts accordingly."

Advani admitted that the two catch phrases "feel good" and "India shining" did not benefit the party.

Accepting the verdict of the people, he said BJP would now act as a "constructive Opposition".

"We had admitted the verdict on May 13 itself even when all the results were not out and had decided to act as constructive Opposition," Advani said.

However, he asserted that dialogue and broad consensus should be the basis while deciding policies which will also help in carrying forward the good work done in last six years.

Advani said that the phrases "feel good" and "India shining" cost the BJP-led coalition "dearly" as these failed to get votes for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the elections. The Vajpayee Government had thought that the two slogans would work keeping in mind the good job done by the NDA Government in the past five or six years, he said.

Criticising the "negative campaign" adopted by opponents in polls holding "us (NDA) responsible for all ills", the former Deputy Prime Minister said, "Their negative campaign prevailed against our positive campaign."

He said that the opponents' criticism against NDA appeared to be "more against the country".

The national executive of the BJP would meet sometime in the middle of next month to review the situation in the light of the "unexpected results", he said.

The NDA had expected that the good governance and the achievements of the Central Government would garner votes for it but local issues and factors prevailed, he said.

Advani said the results of the last elections were "unexpected" and even those in power today had not thought of it.

In 1984, he recalled, the party had suffered a bigger setback when it got only two seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congratulating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on assuming the top office, he expressed the hope that United Progressive Alliance Government would carry forward the "good things" done by the NDA.

Pointing out that he had seen a hoarding saying that the UPA Government had convened a conference on multipurpose identity cards, the BJP leader said he felt "happy" to know that the Government was pursuing the task initiated by the NDA Government.