Tuesday, November 22 2005 14:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President L K Advani today (Nov 22, 2005) credited National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Chief Ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar for the alliance's sweep in Bihar elections and said it would have no impact on his decision to step down as party chief next month.

"I believe that Nitish Kumar's performance as Union Minister gave the NDA campaign a credibility that there will be dynamism and honesty in a government led by him," Advani said here.

The BJP chief said he was happy that that the outcome of the Bihar polls indicated that equations of caste and community were no longer important and that people wanted "good governance, development and security. A conscious effort was made by my party towards this since 1997."

Advani admitted that there was a delay in announcing Kumar's name as Chief Ministerial candidate in the February elections, which adversely affected the alliance's fortunes.

Hovever, he made it clear that the NDA victory in Bihar would not affect his decision to step down as party President.

"I stand by what I said in Chennai," Advani said.