New Delhi, May 31 (IANS):  Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani, who was Sunday elected leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, told his party's MPs that the election results were "disappointing" and "introspection" was on in the organisation. He, however, asked his party not to ?exaggerate the scale of the defeat?.

?Just as the nature of the defeat should not be downplayed, it should not be exaggerated either,? he said, voicing his views on the poll debacle for the first time a fortnight after the results.

"We need to find out why we won less than the expected number of seats in states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra," Advani, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) prime ministerial candidate, told the MPs at their meeting here this evening.

He assured the MPs that the party leadership "has begun the exercise of introspection, analysis and corrective action with the seriousness that it deserves. It will be a thoroughgoing exercise". He added that no factor will be overlooked.

"We have to find out why our performance was poor in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Orissa," he added.

He exhorted the MPs not to be disheartened and said that "with 116 MPs in Lok Sabha, 47 in Rajya Sabha and governments in eight states, the BJP continues to be a formidable force in Indian politics."