Nitish Kumar says he never worried for votes and post

PATNA: Sharing dais with LJP chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan at a political programme organised to observe birth anniversary of former prime minister VP Singh, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Monday said he never thinks of votes and (protecting) the post while “serving” the people of the state.

“Had VP Singh adopted the path of a revisionist, his government could have continued for a longer period. But he never thought of protecting the post (of PM) and worked for people and social justice. Like VP Singh, I too continue to work for serving the people of Bihar without thinking of votes. I never think of votes while working for the state,” Nitish said while addressing the programme organised by the Rashtra Sewa Mission at Ravindra Bhavan here.

He also said, “In Bihar, we are working for the service of all sections of people, irrespective of their social strata, with a motto of ‘development with justice’. Our schemes are meant for all sections of the society and all regions of the state. But, we also take special care of those who remained ‘backward’ due to different reasons.”

Lauding VP Singh for taking a bold decision to implement the recommendation of Mandal Commission without caring for his government, Nitish said it was not an ordinary decision. “I hope VP Singh’s bold decision and his personality will be remembered for a long period,” he said.

Taking a swipe at the socialist leaders, Nitish said some of socialist leaders, in their last phase, became ‘individualists’. Had those socialist leaders preferred to focus on strengthening the organisations and spreading socialist ideology in the country, people would have elected them after the Congress.

Some of the previous speakers demanded installation of a statute of VP Singh at one of the main squares in the state capital and naming of a capital road after the former PM. Nitish assured the organisers that he would work in this direction.

Nitish, who was minister of state for agriculture in the VP Singh government, also recalled his association with the ‘Raja of Manda’ and lauded his style of governance.