Nitish Kumar Will Continue as Bihar Chief Minister: Lalu Yadav

Bihar has picked Nitish Kumar to be its chief minister for a third straight term, handing the Grand Alliance that he leads a big win in the assembly elections. The alliance is now leading in 176 seats, with the BJP camp trailing at only 61 seats.

Lalu Yadav's party, the RJD, is set to be the single largest party in Bihar. The RJD and Mr Kumar's JDU each contested 101 of Bihar's 243 seats.

Mr Yadav and Mr Kumar addressed a press conference. Below are the highlights of their speech:

• Nitish Kumar will continue to be Bihar Chief Minister, says Lalu Yadav.
• The Dalit, the backwards, upper caste have voted for the Grand Alliance. We are grateful for that. BJP has been routed from Bihar by the people
• Under Nitish Kumar's leadership Bihar's progress and development will go on. Youth, farmers, labourers...everybody is with us, says Mr Yadav.
• We will start a movement against dividing the nation. Bihar has given a new direction to the entire country. We will defeat the Narendra Modi government, says Lalu Yadav
• This was not just RJD, JDU and Congress. It was Mahagatbandhan. Bihar's people have given us a huge mandate. Mahadalit, Dalit, Adiwasi - everybody has voted for us, says RJD chief.
• The Bihar that our sisters and mothers dream off - we will strive to make that, says Mr Yadav
• Chief Minister has been congratulated by PM Narendra Modi. Leaders from all over the country has congratulated us Sonia Gandhi, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh.
• The Modi government, the RSS will be completely crushed.