Nitish downplays Legislative Council verdict

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today downplayed the verdict in the recently-concluded Legislative Council polls in Bihar in which NDA fared better than the secular alliance, and said it will be "unfair to draw a political meaning out of it".
"The Legislative Council polls are not general elections as the voters are themselves elected representatives having nothing to do with political parties," he told reporters in a village in Saran district where he had gone to participate in a private function.
"Under the circumstances, it will be unfair to draw political meaning out of the results of Legislative Council polls on 24 seats," Kumar said.

He sought to not attach significance to the verdict in the polls, dubbed in political circles as a semifinal of the Assembly polls due later this year, saying that he had taken it as normal and continued to do business as usual.
Asked about his view on Narendra Modi's proposed visit to the state later this month, Kumar sarcastically 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 find out whether the Prime Minister announced 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 to Rs 20 lakh in bank accounts of the poor.
Modi has failed to fulfill his promises to the farmers and provide jobs to unemployed youths in Bihar, he said and accused the Prime Minister of bragging all the time.