Making an indirect attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that the seat distribution within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the recently concluded assembly elections should have been done five months prior to the poll, adding further that the Janata Dal (United) had to pay a price since it was not done.
"The seat distribution within the NDA should have been done five months prior to the elections but that was not done and as a result, JDU had to pay a big price for it. I was not in favour of becoming the chief minister but because of the pressure of BJP and my party, I agreed to assume the post," Kumar said at the JD(U) state council meeting.
"People voted for us wherever we asked them and there was no confusion from our side. But false propaganda was spread against me and my party," he added.
The Bihar chief minister further said that his party failed to anticipate as to who were their friends and who were not.
"We failed to anticipate who were our friends and who were not and on whom we should have trusted. After the election campaign, we got to understand that things were not conducive for us but by that time it was too late," he said.
Nitish Kumar further said that National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be implemented in Bihar and his party will oppose it even if it is attempted.
"NRC will not be implemented in Bihar and if an attempt is done to do so then our party will openly oppose it," he said.
The 69-year-old, who returned as the Chief Minister for the fourth consecutive term after the elections, reiterated that he was reluctant to hold on to the seat of power "but agreed only because you all insisted that I continue working".
Earlier, Kumar had stated that the issue of his cabinet expansion was not taken up for discussion during the talks he had with top BJP leaders at his official residence.
By winning 74 seats against the JD(U)'s tally of 43, the BJP is said to be insistent on having a bigger share of the pie. A 14-member council of ministers of chief minister Nitish Kumar was sworn in by Governor Phagu Chauhan in November 2020.
