Protecting the leadership from any attack, the Bharatiya Janata Party has ruled out holding anyone responsible for the rout in the Bihar assembly elections and rejected criticism even from within that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's quota remarks was one of the major reasons for the defeat.
A day after the results were out from Bihar, the BJP Parliamentary Board met at the party headquarters with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah and other top leaders in attendance to review the performance.
The party admitted that it lost because the size of the "social arithmetic" cobbled by the grand alliance was bigger than the NDA and acknowledged that its assessment that the vote transferability among the JD(U), RJD and Congress will not happen proved "incorrect".
"As far as accountability is concerned, the party collectively wins and collectively loses," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the media while briefing them on the Parliament Board meeting deliberations.
He was replying to a question about what action the party proposes to take towards holding someone accountable for the humiliating defeat in Bihar.
Asked if a second loss after the Delhi rout reflected on the leadership of Shah, whose tenure is coming to an end in January, Jaitley strongly defended him.
Winning and losing is part of the game, he said, pointing to the fact that after the Lok Sabha success the BJP had won four assembly elections and a string of local body polls in several states under him. "The party collectively wins and collectively loses."
Jaitley rejected suggestions that the controversial comments of Bhagwat calling for a review of reservation for OBCs cost the party dearly in the elections.
"We don't accept that," he told a questioner when it was pointed out that some party leaders and allies have suggested that his remarks were a major reason for the defeat.
"One comment cannot decide elections," he said while disagreeing with suggestions that Shah's "crackers in Pakistan" remark also damaged their prospects.
The minister said the BJP has always clarified since its inception that they support reservation and made it clear in 1991 after the Mandal Commission report.
"We have accepted the concept of reservation on the basis of social backwardness. I understand that this is also the stand of RSS. There should be no confusion about it," he said.
Asked about the controversial remarks made by Hindutva hotheads in the party, Jaitley said everybody should speak with decorum. "All should make efforts to ensure that we continue to maintain our development narrative," he said.
To a question if BJP made a mistake by not projecting its chief ministerial candidate, he said the party had good strategic reasons for not doing so.
He also played down the poor performance of its three allies which together won 5 seats out 84 they contested and said they were able to transfer their votes to the party.
Rejecting the contetion that the results should be seen as a referendum on the Modi government as the prime minister was the lead campaigner, he said referendum was a word that belonged to "journalistic parlance" and all elections are fought on different issues.
In the Lok Sabha elections, NDA had received 38.8 per cent votes while all the three grand alliance parties, which had fought the poll seperately in 2014, had received 45.3 per cent of votes, he said.
In the assembly polls, NDA got 34.1 percent and the NDA 41.9, he said, noting that the vote difference between the two rival alliances remained more or less same.
"There is a thinking that when an alliance is formed, it is not possible for all constituents to transfer their entire vote share to each other. We felt that they (RJD-JDU-Congress) will also not be able to do it. Our assessment was wrong. Their vote transferability was very good. That was one of the biggest reason (for their victory)..The size of their social arithmetic became more than ours," Jaitley said.
