In India, people are emotional, and voting is on that pattern. For the first time we contested the elections on the basis of development, and for this message to reach the villages, will take time. Unless education reaches each and every village, the development message will take time. Our message of India Shining will take time to reach.

This is not a question of backfire. People expect more from the BJP and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee; the Congress's basis is there is no alternative. And finally, there is the factor of anti-incumbency. There is no anti-incumbency against the government but against the candidates.

One person cannot be blamed. In the BJP, the decision is always collective. All the top leaders take the decision collectively. It is not like Laloo Yadav or Mulayam Singh Yadav's party where one person decides.

The last time we had maximum seats from the northern belt. We are not doing well because of the anti-incumbency factor. We stuck to the old candidates and we are paying the price. We should have changed the candidates to different constituencies and our result would have been better.

But our final results will be much better. The contest will be much closer. We are catching up with the Congress.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Bihar state secretary Rameshwar Prasad appeared on the Rediff Election Chat at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi