Patna, March 10: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday ruled out speculations of a new alignment ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Nitish expressed his views on a recent tweet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describing Bihar as the fastest growing state in the country.

Soon after the tweet, Nitish had thanked the PM for his remarks. It led to speculations about a “new alliance” between the JD(U) and the Congress taking shape in the wake of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi virtually being made the prime ministerial candidate by the BJP.

“He (Manmohan Singh) was speaking the truth based on the ground reality. He did not say all this to make me happy. People should not misunderstand (his statement). I am not planning any new political equation,” said Nitish at a public meeting held at SK Memorial Hall on Sunday on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati.

Nitish was addressing a gathering of around 2,000 farmers at SK Memorial Hall at a programme organised by former minister Anil Kumar.

Citing the examples of growth in the state, Nitish said: “Our farmers are breaking world records and people across the world are praising us. Be it in production of rice, paddy, honey, mushroom or potato, Bihar farmers have made their names everywhere. In his recent visit, Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz had said Bihar farmers are better than scientists. This is the way our state is growing. What Manmohan Singh has said is reality,” Nitish said.

The speculations of a new alliance have been going on ever since the JD(U) defied the NDA line to support Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential polls. More recently, Nitish praised finance minister P. Chidambaram for agreeing to re-look at the criteria that gauges the backwardness of a state and also for his commitment towards building the Nalanda University.