I waited until we were called to a meeting of the newly elected parliamentarians May 31, and that again was somewhat casual, in a light hearted manner and we tried to (explain) away our defeat... It was not serious,' Sinha said.

Sinha also differed with the explanation given by Advani and Arun Jaitley that 'emergence of a bipolar polity in the country' was the reason behind the party's defeat in the elections.

'These are consolations we can give to ourselves,' he said.

The former finance minister expressed regret that despite having presented five budgets in the past, his party did not ask him to discuss this year's union budget.

'I expected the party to ask me to speak on the budget... I was informed that somebody else was going to speak on this... and that clearly disappointed me,' he said.