Patna, Oct. 11: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is walking the "development with justice" line in contrast with newfound partner Lalu Prasad, who has pegged the Assembly elections as a fight between the backwards and forwards.

On the eve of the first phase of Bihar elections, the chief minister claimed he has joined hands with the RJD chief only to defeat the NDA. In the same vein he admitted he cannot match the NDA in terms of resources it was putting into the elections.

Nitish's views came to the fore during a question-and-answer session on Facebook.

In the hour-long sitting, Nitish answered almost 9,000 questions and insisted on keeping up the pace of development as observed in the state in the past 10 years. He also negated the claims of NDA leaders of obstacles in the growth of Bihar in case the Grand Alliance formed the next government. Nitish declared that he would ensure development with his vision and leadership.

Replying to one Surya Prakash Suraj Kushwaha who asked Nitish why he joined hands with Lalu, the chief minister said: "The political alliance with Lalu has been done to defeat the BJP and its allies and to ensure that the development observed in Bihar over the past 10 years is sustained."

His statement on "development with justice" came in reply to a question raised by one Nishant Shekhar, who asked: "In the fight of forwards and backwards what would be the model of development of Bihar?"

The chief minister replied: "I have repeated time and again, I am driven by my idea of development with justice and the agenda is to make sure that the last 10 years of development continue. Bihar has only one growth model, development with justice."

Replying to two more questions on the need for having the same party at the Centre and the state for ensuring development, Nitish said: "In the past 10 years, we, and many other state governments, have shown that for development you need a government with a leader, will and vision to ensure development. In a federal structure like ours, I do not see two different parties at the Centre and the state as a constraint to development."

On being asked how he's countering the NDA resources, a confident Nitish: "We can't match the resources of NDA, but we certainly have the support of people like you. As long as the people of Bihar continue to support us, we would not only match NDA but beat them."

When one Simranjeet Singh asked him how he would ensure smooth functioning of a coalition government if the Grand Alliance won the election, Nitish said: "There is no question of there being any differences. All those party to the mahagathbandhan have a unified vision for the state and we are committed to working towards it."