India / Didn't talk about retirement: Nitish Kumar on last election remark

Patna: Days after NDA registered a victory in the Bihar Assembly elections 2020, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took a u-turn and asserted that his remarks were misinterpreted and that this election will not be his last. Notably, on the last day of campaigning for Bihar polls, Nitish, while addressing a rally in Purnia district of the state, had stated that ‘all’s well that ends well’, and urged the voters to put the ‘garland of victory’ on the NDA coalition in his last polls.

“Jan leje aaj chunav ka aakhri din hai aur parson chunav hai aur ye mera antim chunav hai. Ant bhala, to sab bhalla (know that today is the last day of elections and the day after is the election. And this is my last election. If the end is good, everything is good),” Nitish had said in the rally.

But now after the declaration of election results, the JDU chief, in his first interaction with media said, “I did not talk about retirement. In the last meeting, I always say the same thing at the last rally in every election that `ant bhala to sab bhala` (all is well that ends well). If you listen to speech back and forth, everything will be clear.

On being asked about the oath-taking ceremony, he said leaders of all the four NDA constituents will likely meet informally on Friday to discuss the issue.

Asked whether he has made any claims for a chief ministerial berth, Nitish said the decision will be taken by NDA and he has not made any claims. Earlier, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav promptly hit out at the NDA, claiming it won the assembly elections through “deceit”.