Defeat takes over 11 Ashoka Road

A little after 11 am, Sushma Swaraj arrived, sporting a mustard sari and dark glasses. V.K. Malhotra, the party’s lone winner from Delhi, landed up too, candidly telling journalists he was happy on his victory but wasn’t quite sure if the general mood was as upbeat. Soon, party veteran J.P. Mathur dropped in from his residence in the neighbourhood. Mathur, who has, no doubt, explained many defeats in his time, instead ambled across and made polite conversation with journalists.

The headquarters, once packed with leaders, functionaries, workers and hangers-on on any given day, was quite desolate. Instead, there were journalists, crawling out of just about everywhere. ‘‘They’re so few BJP people around,’’ muttered a visitor, ‘‘the cameramen are probably photographing each other’’.

The few party workers who were around were quite dazed by the extent of the defeat. After the Andhra Pradesh results on May 11, a reversal was expected, especially in Tamil Nadu. That realisation, however, didn’t make things easier. ‘‘Kya Ram Naik bhi haar gaye? Govinda se…are Jagmohan ko to harna hi tha. Upar ki baat karta hai. Zameen ka aadmi nahin hai,’’ went the excuses for the blows.

A little after 12 noon, leaders whizzed off for a meeting at party president M. Venkaiah Naidu’s residence. Minutes ahead, Mahajan formally admitted defeat and said the BJP would sit in the Opposition. Stoically, he also accepted blame as the party general secretary and chief election manager.

Maybe it was the numbers, maybe it was the grim faces; the party office seemed to be suffering a particularly bad hangover. The Vajpayee and Advani posters and other poll-time banners were still there. The saffron, white and green balloons that had been put up for V-E (Victory in Election) were still in place. Everything was the same; everything had changed.