Patna: Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that this was his last election. His remarks came a day before the state is set to go for the third phase of assembly elections.
While addressing a public rally in Bihar’s Purnia, Kumar urged people to vote for the JD(U)-led NDA alliance in the state and said, “this is my last election, all’s well that ends well.”
The JD(U) chief is seeking a seventh term. He fought and won six consecutive Lok Sabha polls but as chief minister, has never been elected through a popular vote.
Kumar contested his first assembly election in 1977 as a candidate of the erstwhile Janata Dal from the Harnaut constituency, but lost the election. After a gap of nine years, he contested the seat again in 1985 and won.
According to a senior JD(U) functionary, in view of his larger responsibilities as party chief and head of the state government during assembly elections, Nitish Kumar stays away from contesting a seat.
“He is the face of the JD (U) and the Bihar government. In the elections, he has to campaign across the state. If he contests from a particular seat, he has to invariably spend more time on his own seat. For the larger gain of JD (U), he refrains from contesting polls,” said the leader, who requested anonymity.
Meanwhile, Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan on Thursday said Nitish Kumar is “greedy”, “would befriend anyone to remain in power” and thus the “most corrupt Chief Minister” Bihar has ever seen.
