The Bharatiya Janata Party would pursue the foreign origin issue irrespective of personalities involved, party chief M Venkaiah Naidu has said.
"Sonia (Gandhi) is nowhere in the picture. Issue is of foreign origin. We are very clear. That is our conviction today, tomorrow, day after tomorrow... irrespective of Sonia, we will pursue this issue. Even if tomorrow some American comes here and wants to become President or Prime Minister, we will pursue it," Naidu said in an interview to Karan Thapar for BBC World to be telecast tomorrow.
Asked if BJP failed in its plank of warning the country against 'electing' a foreign born Indian as prime minister, Naidu said, "Going by the argument and propaganda of others, I am thinking that we should have focused more on that issue, which we have not."
Dismissing suggestions that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's role in the Gujarat violence cost the party dearly, he said, "The campaign against us has cost us some votes. Nobody is denying that."
The BJP chief conceded that the party was 'overconfident' that people would vote for because of its 'good work'.
He said the party was in a state of 'shock and disbelief' over election results.
"We are unable to come to an understanding of what exactly went wrong. So far, even among all the analysts and political commentators in the country, nobody is able to reach the bottom of the actual reason for our setback in this election," he said.