NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party, which did not have a major stake in the Assembly elections, was nevertheless disappointed, not being able to open its account in Kerala and West Bengal. Although it contested as many as 542 seats in four States and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, the party drew a blank except in Assam, where it bagged 10 seats.

Party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said here on Thursday: "We hardly had any presence in some of the States that went to the polls. Last time, we won four seats in Tamil Nadu but we then had an alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam."

In Kerala, where the party expected to win "at least" one or two seats, it was swept away by the strong showing of the Left Democratic Front.

Mahajan's dream

The late Pramod Mahajan, who was in charge in Assam, hoped to double the party's tally from eight seats in the outgoing Assembly.

Only a few days ago, did general secretary Arun Jaitley, in-charge of the elections in West Bengal, express confidence that the party would be able to enter the Assembly there.

The BJP contested 29 seats in alliance with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress but drew a blank although it was the only State where the party forged a credible alliance.

Worse news came from Rae Bareli, where its Vinay Katiyar forfeited deposit in the contest against Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Mr. Katiyar, till recently BJP chief in Uttar Pradesh, hoped to cash in on his Backward Caste status.

Though BJP president Rajnath Singh's "rath yatra" travelled through the State during the campaign for the Lok Sabha byelection, it had little impact.

"Coalition alone matters"

Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "The overall results supported the new truth that coalition arithmetic alone counted on the federal political scene."

He did not think that the war between party leader L.K. Advani and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on the Jinnah issue had anything to do with the BJP's poor showing.

In Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the party is strong, it did well. It was the coalition arithmetic that the party had to get right.

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