Nitish downplays council poll verdict ahead of assembly elections

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday downplayed the verdict in the recently concluded legislative council polls in which NDA fared better than the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine, and said it would be “unfair to draw a political inference out of it”.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday downplayed the verdict in the recently concluded legislative council polls in which NDA fared better than the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine, and said it would be “unfair to draw a political inference out of it”.

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“The legislative council polls are not general elections as the voters are themselves elected representatives having nothing to do with political parties,” he said at Dumri Bujurg village in Saran district, where he had gone to pay homage to the mother of Biscomaun chairman Sunil Kumar Singh.

“Under the circumstances, it will be unfair to draw a political meaning out of the results of council elections on 24 seats,” Kumar said.

He did not attach any significance to the verdict in the polls, dubbed in political circles as a semifinal of the assembly elections due later this year.

Asked for his views on Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to the state later this month, Kumar said the Prime Minister has at last remembered Bihar.

“Modi had promised to give special status and special package to Bihar but failed to keep his words,” he said.

It would, however, be interesting to see if the Prime Minister announces special package for Bihar during his visit or “merely does some packaging”, he said.

Kumar also attacked Modi for his failure to bring back black money stashed abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of the poor.

Modi has failed to fulfill his promises to the farmers or jobs to unemployed youths in Bihar, he said.