Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi Wednesday refused to accept the poll debacle of the Secular Democratic Front as a popular mandate against policies and programmes of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led governments in the state for the past 15 years and attributed her party's defeat to a "deep rooted conspiracy".

• Bihar Elections 2005

Talking to reporters at the chief minister's official residence in Patna, Rabri pointed out that dozens of officers belonging to backward classes and minority community had been "bundled out" from responsible positions to make room for some others figuring in the good books of certain quarters against the downtrodden.

"The transfers were effected before the elections with a view to implementing an agenda for inflicting defeat on secular forces," she said.

Asked why the RJD did not push the issue prior to the polls, Rabri replied that they were too busy with campaigning to pay attention to such "deep conspiracies".

Refusing to accept the debacle "sportingly" as her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former chief minister promised to play the role of a "responsible opposition" and raise in the assembly all issues pertaining to well-being of the downtrodden.

"The success of the new government would depend upon the capability of Nitish Kumar to hold the pressure from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is likely to try to implement its agenda through the NDA government," Rabri noted.