Orissa CM congratulates Nitish Kumar

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today congratulated his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar for sweeping the Assembly polls but refused to give credit to his old ally, the BJP.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today congratulated his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar for sweeping the Assembly polls but refused to give credit to his old ally, the BJP.

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"It has been a tremendous victory for Nitishji in Bihar. I congratulate him for great success," Patnaik told reporters.

His answer was a brief "no" when asked whether BJP had any credit in Kumar's convincing win and ruled out the possibility of his party BJD re-entering an alliance with non-Congress and non-Left parties.

Though Patnaik's party was an ally of the BJP-led NDA for a decade till 2009, he had parted ways with it just before the general elections last year. His regional outfit won Orissa Assembly elections single handedly in 2009.