Bihar reposed faith in JD-U despite 2014 poll loss: Nitish

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was officially crowned as the national president of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Saturday, said people wrote off his party after they were defeated in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"The way 2014 elections results came people wrote us off politically, they felt that the JD (U) has no future," said Nitish at the party's National Council Meeting here.

"In the same the way, when elections in Bihar took place, 'many intellectuals' didn't consider us as a competitor, saying there would again be Jungle Raj if the Mahagathbandhan assumes office, but the people of Bihar had faith in us and they voted us back to power.," he added.

Nitish also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for using disgraceful language against him during poll campaigns.

"The BJP, out of arrogance, used disgraceful language. they questioned my DNA but we never lost our patience, we didn't stoop down," he added.

The newly elected JD (U) president also said that his party never compromised on its ideologies.

"Even while leaving the NDA and the BJP in 2013, we had said that we may lose in the elections, because we never worried for success in elections. Rather we didn't want to compromise on ideologies," he added.

Nitish Kumar replaced Sharad Yadav on April 10 as party president at the party's national executive meeting held in New Delhi.

JD-U Bihar unit president Vashisht Narain Singh said party leaders from 28 states attended the National Council Meeting.