Confident Nitish has an easy day

With the Bihar assembly election results just a day away, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s official residence at 1 Anne Marg — a hub of activity for the past five years — was calm and quiet on Tuesday.

A relaxed Kumar followed his normal routine of yoga exercises in the morning. An avid reader of newspapers, he went through all the papers after yoga and then went to attend the last official engagement as chief minister — the cabinet meeting called to recommend dissolution of the government.

Emerging from the meeting, a courteous Kumar extended his gratitude to all state government employees for their support during the past five years.

“His body language was confident,” said a minister who attended the meeting. “When we tried to raise some issues, he told us not to worry as all unresolved issues would be taken care of after Wednesday afternoon.”

Then he took time off to interact with the media. This included taking potshots at his bete noire, RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Even though several exit polls have predicted a clean sweep for the ruling alliance of the JD(U) and BJP, Kumar gave the impression that he did not always go by what they project.

“In the last polls, the exit polls were held on the days of polling. They influenced the next round of voting. The polls said no one would get a majority but our alliance won with a proper majority.”

On to Lalu’s annoyance at the exit polls, Kumar said, “I can understand his frustration. This will increase further. The exit polls had come after the polling was over. It did not affect the voting pattern this time.”