The best example of this disharmony was the fielding of Congress candidate from Dariapur-Kazipur Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad city, which had been allotted to LJP in a seat-sharing agreement, he said.

He told this correspondent over the phone from Mumbai on Tuesday, that he wanted to field his party candidates from all the 182 Assembly seats in the state, but agreed to field only one from Dariapur-Kazipur due to a seat- sharing agreement to prevent the division of secular votes.

"As I had resigned from the Union ministry during the NDA rule on the Gujarat issue, I agreed to sacrifice my party interest in favour of secularism. This is not politics for me, but my life's mission," he said, adding he convinced his state unit of the party not to press for contesting against the Congress.

But state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, nevertheless fielded Surendra Rajput as the party candidate from Daryapur-Kazipur from where Mukesh Gurjar of the LJP was contesting.

To keep its commitment of seat adjustment with the LJP, the state Congress was asked to declare in Daryapur-Kazipur publicly that they were not in the fray in the constituency and party workers must support the LJP. However, none from the state unit did anything in this regard, Paswan said.

"The result was for everybody to see. While the Congress won from the adjoining constituencies of Shahpur and Kalupur, the LJP lost," said Paswan.

He said another factor for the defeat of the secular forces was the failure of the Congress to project its chief ministerial candidate.

The Congress conducted its election campaign as Sonia vs Modi or Manmohan vs Modi fight. The move backfired badly, diminishing the stature of Sonia as well as Manmohan, while benefitting Modi, a fact, which was highlighted by the media all over the country.

Paswan said that while Modi aggressively identified himself with Gujarat and Hindutva, the Congress failed to match him with an equally tall state leadership.

"The Congress has the habit of sympathising with the Muslims only during election time, and this badly polarised the voters on communal lines, ultimately helping Modi. The Congress's, indecisiveness caused its electoral defeat," he added.