Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar offered consolation to the Congress on Wednesday over its performance in the recent Assembly elections and emphasised on making quick decisions about the future course of the INDIA bloc in view of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“The Congress won these states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh) in the previous polls in 2018. This time they (the BJP) have won. The Congress did not get any small amount of votes. It got a considerable number of votes. Besides, it emerged victorious in Telangana,” Nitish told reporters after paying floral tributes to Bhim Rao Ambedkar on his death anniversary in Patna.

“These things keep happening. They do not merit any special discussion. Previously the Congress had won so many times in so many states,” Nitish added, reminding that it was the people’s decision. He also extended a feeble greeting to the BJP.

The chief minister’s remarks came three days after the Assembly poll results of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana came out. It was his first public appearance since he fell ill last week.

“We now want everything (in INDIA) to be resolved swiftly and everybody to start working. In the next INDIA meeting, I will tell them to quickly discuss and decide on everything instead of delaying it any further. All the parties need to contest the coming polls together,” he added.

Emphasising on the amount of work he has done over the past one year to unite the Opposition parties against the BJP and form the alliance, Nitish asserted that he will always support INDIA and will attend its future meetings.

Brushing aside the rumours that he did not want to attend the next INDIA meeting, the chief minister pointed out that he was down with fever, cold and cough for five days. He also repeated that he had no wish for any position in the alliance.