Nitish attributes success to development work by government

With the NDA registering major electoral gains in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday it was a positive vote for his government.

"The lantern (RJD's election symbol) has broken and the oil that was spilt set on fire the bungalow (LJP's symbol) as the arrow (symbol of JD-U) was right on target," he said.

Stating that the Lok Sabha results should be seen as being in continuity of the mandate that the NDA got in the last assembly polls, Kumar said "The people of Bihar have the rejected negative politics pursued by RJD president Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan and have given a positive vote to my government which has been successful in bringing about peace, communal harmony and development."

Kumar, who was being wooed by the Congress and the Third Front alike before the counting, persisted in his demand for special category status for Bihar.

"The Congress, which was quick to support my demand for special status to Bihar yesterday should not go back on it now that it is set to form the government at the Centre," he said.

According to the latest trends, the JD(U) was leading in 32 of 40 seats.