From correspondents in Delhi, India, 06:32 PM IST

Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav Sunday said there was a 'difference between the pre-poll alliance and now' and added that the BJP election campaign hurt his party.

'The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) raised all wrong issues and this damaged us. They could not take up any real issues touching the common masses,' Yadav, who is also the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor, told reporters here after his party's national executive meeting.

'There is a difference between the pre-poll alliance and now. The reasons for the debacle will be raised with the BJP leaders and ways to find a solution will be worked out,' he said.

Without naming BJP veteran L.K. Advani, who was the NDA's candidate for the post of prime minister, Yadav rued: 'The BJP could not recreate the magic of the (former prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee days.'

The JD-U leader also took a dig at the BJP president and said that 'despite Rajnath Singh and many other leaders being originally farmers, the BJP could not raise any issues relating to the farmers.

'This could have been effective because in the opposite camp (the Congress), Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi... none of them is a farmer,' he said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)