Nitish grateful, Lalu to ‘expose mystery’

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While the momentous mandate in Bihar on Wednesday brought out the distinctive humility and humour in victorious chief minister Nitish Kumar, it saw his arch-rival and former strongman Lalu Prasad Yadav of the RJD unusually devoid of his trademark humour and hubris.
A beaming Mr Kumar, composed and confident as during the entire campaign, described the landslide three-fourths majority for his JD(U)-BJP alliance as Bihar ready to “write its own new story” and a “big challenge” on his shoulders. But Mr Yadav, whose nifty equations of caste and religion on the eve of the polls failed to bring his RJD-LJP alliance close to the magic number, half-heartedly congratulated Mr Kumar and vowed to soon expose the “mystery of this so-called mandate”.
“All those who used to only speak and rely on caste equations to win polls have met with deep disappointment. Bihar has left behind caste and caste equations. This new awareness will now write its own new story. Bihar is a new experiment in India — on whether governance can get votes. Its success will reverberate outside Bihar,” said Mr Kumar as he met reporters when the NDA had crossed far ahead of the Assembly half-way mark in the ongoing counting of votes.
Admitting that he himself was overwhelmed by the scale of the landslide victory, Mr Kumar said: “If I have to pray today, I will pray that I be able to rise to the big challenges ahead. No one has got a magic wand, but we have the will to work hard. I will try my best to live up to the people’s faith,” he said during the 15-minute interaction.
Mr Kumar said governance was and would remain his first priority. “We are keen on making real our 2006 resolve of making Bihar a developed state by 2015. We will implement all our campaign promises, including the seizure of the properties of the corrupt and opening schools in them. We will do it very soon,” he said.
Mr Yadav and Mr Paswan received the mandate with shock. Mauled but not maudlin, the duo said they would review the results by visiting the areas where the RJD and the LJP had displayed their worst performances. “We will find out and expose the mystery behind this so-called mandate. No mystery remains hidden in Bihar,” said Mr Yadav.