A sulking Nitish Kumar said on Thursday he had made no claim on the chief minister’s post after the election results.

“I have made no claim. The National Democratic Alliance will decide,” Nitish said when reporters asked him who will be the chief minister.

“It has not been decided when the oath ceremony will take place, whether it will be after Diwali or after Chhath Puja. We are analysing the results of this election. Members of all four parties (that are a part of the NDA) will meet tomorrow (Friday),” Nitish said.

The JDU president asserted that “the people have given a mandate to the NDA and it will form the government again”.

Nitish made the statements when he visited the JDU state headquarters and met the newly elected MLAs.

However, sources said Nitish had agreed to take on the responsibility after entreaties by senior party leaders of his party and also from the BJP.

“He was not comfortable with the idea of becoming the chief minister again in the light of the poor performance of the party in the polls. However, we reasoned with him that the elections were fought with him as the chief minister candidate and he should not back out now,” a senior JDU leader told The Telegraph.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had iterated on Wednesday that Nitish would be the chief minister.

Some saw in Nitish’s statements an attempt to ensure that the BJP, now the senior partner with far more MLAs than the JDU, gave him a free hand to run the government.

Nitish appeared to blame Chirag Paswan’s LJP for the poor performance of the JDU. “Our campaign was for the entire NDA, but candidates were deliberately put only in our seats. However, if people vote for others despite our work, it is their right,” Nitish said.