"Bewakoof hain na (we are idiots, right?)", retorted Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today when asked if her party failed to read the mood of the city which it had ruled for 15 years.
Dikshit, who resigned from the Chief Minister's post after Congress' drubbing, said her party will analyse what went wrong in the election.
"We accept our defeat and we will analyse what went wrong," she told reporters at her residence during a brief appearance after sending her resignation to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung.
"We respect what the people of Delhi have decided and thank them for supporting us for last 15 years," she said.
Her remarks came in the backdrop of her party being routed in the polls.
The AAP made a strong debut in the election eating into Congress' votebank in the city while pushing the ruling party to the third position.
The Bharatiya Janata Party continues to be in the lead in the polls and is more or less certain of returning to power in Delhi after 15 years.
However, the BJP may have to share the responsibility of governance of the Delhi with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The BJP is currently leading in 34 seats, while the AAP is leading in 25. The Congress is down to an eight seat lead.
"We did not expect a newcomer with no clear agenda to have this sort of impact," acknowledged the BJP's Chandan Mitra of the AAP's white-hot debut.
Kejriwal ran for office from the New Delhi constituency, taking on Sheila Dikshit, the 75- year-old leader of the Congress, whose bid for a fourth attempt at chief minister has been firmly rebuffed by voters. At 11.30 am, he was ahead.
"Our party doesn't worry about things like who will be chief minister. We worry about how to help the country," Kejriwal said early this morning, a checked scarf wrapped tightly around him. Then he went into his office to meditate.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the AAP, as "the new kid on the block" has proven it's a force to reckon with.
But she said the AAP may find it tough to sustain its current popularity all the way to the national election.
"We are not interested in breaking the AAP, or trying to take some of its candidates," she told a television channel.
