Updated on Sunday, May 13, 2007, 00:00 IST

Varanasi, May 13: The BJP on Sunday said it faredmiserably in the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections as it failed to project itself as an alternative tothe Samajwadi Party in the state.

Dwelling on the factors responsible for the electoral setback, former BJP national president Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters here that the party failed to project itself as an alternative while the BSP did present itself as a viable alternative.

The party would undertake introspection and review various factors responsible for its poor performance, he said. The party would seek a detailed report from the state unit on the poor performance and review its election management and poll-related strategy at the meeting of the central leadership, he told reporters here.

He said the election results went against the expectation of the party which bagged mere 51 seats in the state assembly.

The BJP had suffered worst drubbing in the past, he said referring to the party winning mere two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 elections, but recovered the grounds in the 1990s to form the government at the Centre.

Joshi sought to highlight the Setusamudram Project and demanded the ancient Ramsetu be protected at all costs as it represented the cultural and religious treasure of India.

"The government should take all measures for protecting the Ramsetu which was lying under seawaters between Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka and was constructed ages ago by Lord Rama for passage of his soldiers," he said.

The senior BJP leader said that his party would launch a nationwide agitation on the Ram Setu issue if the Centre did not shelve the Setu Samudram Project.

Bureau Report