Shah concedes defeat, congratulates Nitish, Lalu

New Delhi

Conceding defeat, BJP chief Amit Shah today congratulated Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad on their massive victory and said his party respected the people’s mandate.

“Our good wishes to the new

government to take Bihar on the path of development,” he said.

“We respect the mandate of the people of Bihar… I congratulate Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav on their victory in Bihar Assembly elections,” the BJP chief tweeted.

Meanwhile, many senior party leaders met Shah at his residence as it became clear that the BJP-led NDA was headed to a massive loss in the high-stakes elections.

(REOPENS DEL60)

After the meeting, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav was asked if party leaders’ controversial remarks on the reservation issue had affected his party’s performance in Bihar, to which he said that the rival combine had a “social mathematics” which went in their favour.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Jitendra Singh said that he believed there were no wrong statements from the party on the reservation issue, when asked whether the comments about reservations by RSS head Mohan Bhagwat harmed BJP in Bihar elections.

PTI