Nitish Kumar, who is poised to take oath for a third straight time as the chief minister of Bihar, on Sunday called the Mahagathbandhan win as a "a victory for Bihar's self respect".
"I congratulate the people of Bihar, this is their victory, this is victory of Bihar's 'Swabhimaan'," said the Bihar CM, while addressing the media. "This is a huge victory which suggests people of Bihar have aspirations, we will match up with their expectations."
He said the BJP's attempts to divide the society on communal lines was foiled by Bihar's electorate.
"It is now clear that people want a strong and united opposition in the country," IANS quoted said the JD-U leader as saying.
"We have no malice in our hearts. We will never make fun of the vanquished... We will work without any ill-will towards those who opposed us in the election. We have no hatred," he added.
He added that the victory was a result of unity between the JDU, the RJD and the Congress.
Speaking to media, RJD leader Lalu Prasad on Sunday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "RSS pracharak" and vowed to launch a campaign against the BJP nationwide.
"He is a clear cut RSS pracharak," Lalu Prasad told a press conference he addressed in the company of incumbent Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, he said, was a "mukhota" (mask) of the RSS, the party's ideological parent.
The RJD leader said Modi took advantage of the divisions in the opposition ranks in 2014 to lead the BJP to a victory in the Lok Sabha election.
"Modi forgot that Bihar is not Haryana or Maharashtra," where the BJP won state elections after the Lok Sabha triumph, he said.
Lalu Prasad said he would tour the country to launch an agitation against fundamentalism.
"We will launch a major agitation. I will first go to Varanasi to see if Modi has fulfilled the promises made during the Lok Sabha election," he said, referring to Modi's parliamentary constituency.
"The winds of change from Bihar will blow all over the country," he said.
