By IANS,
Patna : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday said the Congress has been given the mandate by people to rule the country and it should not forget the promise of a special status to his state.
“I am very pleased with the election results. It was a continuation to the mandate given to us by the Bihar people in November 2005. People have voted against the negativity of Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan,” an elated Nitish Kumar told reporters.
Nitish’s Janata Dal-United and ally Bharatiya Janata Party are leading in 32 of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.
Asked if he was joining Congress, Nitish Kumar said: “Hum kahan ja rahe hai? Yahin sarkar chala rahe hai (where are we going? We are running government in the state). The Congress has a clear mandate and now they should not forget to give Bihar the status of special state.”
On the performance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which his party is an ally, he said: “We were only confined to Bihar and here NDA performance has been good.”