Senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan today admitted that the party was facing the ‘‘most difficult phase’’ of its political career in the backdrop of its defeat in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls.‘‘I would compare the present crisis facing the party to the period between 1984 and 1989 when we just had two Lok sabha seats. We are entering a very difficult phase and I believe that we should focus now on 2009 and rebuilding the party,’’ he said.In an interview to NDTV, the BJP general secretary, who was the party strategist in the Lok Sabha polls and led the campaign in Maharashtra, confessed that his personal image had damaged him politically. ‘‘Yes, my five-star laptop image has harmed me. I don’t think it’s a fair image that has been created by the media, but I realise that it has hurt me politically, and I would be foolish if I did not attempt to work on it.’’Accepting full responsibility for the Maharashtra defeat, he ruled out ending the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.‘‘I think both on practical and ideological grounds, we have no plans at the moment to end the alliance. If we cannot win as allies, how will we win as separate parties? That will only end up benefitting the Congress.’’ He admitted that the return of L.K. Advani as party chief was a sign that no other leader had a major national stature. He said it was upto the new party chief whether or not to continue with him as party general secretary.According to an NDTV release, Mahajan hinted he was ready to take a break from being party strategist and work in rural and Adivasi areas.
