Nitish tells Congress to respect country's federal structure

Patna, Mar 7 (ANI): Reacting to the Congress Party's poor performance in the recent assembly elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said the result should serve as a lesson for the Congress and give it a message to respect and appreciate the country's federal structure.

"The message given to the Congress Party through this election is absolutely clear. And the message is, that they should appreciate federalism, they should respect the federal structure of the country," Kumar told media here.

"They were given the same message in Bihar too. By taking credit for every development project. By saying that 'we are doing this, the federal governments money is involved, all this continuous talk hurts the feelings of people in different states" he added.

The elections in Uttar Pradesh turned out to be a big disappointment for the party, where it finished fourth despite Rahul Gandhi himself leading the Congress from the front.

The Congress failed to win power in Punjab, lost power in Goa and was running for a photo finish with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttarakhand. A win in Manipur was the only silver lining in an otherwise gloomy result for it.

The Congress party's drubbing is also a blow to the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reducing his scope to re-launch reforms and reverse a slowdown in economic growth. (ANI)