Jitan Manjhi said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had lost his mental balance (File)
Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi and former Chief Minister of Bihar has slammed Nitish Kumar over his remark in the ongoing Assembly session. This came after Nitish Kumar lost his cool and said that his "stupidity" had led his former protege Manjhi to occupy the highest seat of power in the state.
On Thursday, while speaking to the media, Mr Manjhi said that the Bihar Chief Minister had lost his mental balance and underestimated him.
"...I wanted to get up and speak (in the Assembly) but the Chief Minister got up and started saying nonsense. I was surprised if this was the same Nitish Kumar who was there a few days back. It seemed that he was here today in a different form. I think he has some mental weaknesses which is why he is saying this...I think he has lost his mental balance so he is saying this...He had underestimated Jitan Ram Manjhi. He thought that I belonged to Bhuiya-Mushar community and I will do whatever he says..." he said.
Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar, in a fit of rage said that it was his stupidity that that had led to Manjhi to be the Chief Minister of the state.
"..It was my mistake that I made this person CM...My party people started saying after two months that there was some problem, remove him... Then I became (Chief Minister)... He keeps on saying that he was Chief Minister... He became Chief Minister because of my stupidity," Mr Kumar screamed during the discussion on the Reservation Amendment Bill, causing commotion in the House.
It came after Mr Manjhi who is now with the opposition BJP-led NDA, rose to express doubts over the state government's caste survey.
However, speaking about the same, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav said that hurling allegations at each other is the nature of the politics.
"It is the nature of politics that people hurl allegations at each other. It was Nitish Kumar who made Jitan Ram Manjhi the Chief Minister of Bihar. On the other hand, BJP wants to divert the attention of people from the Bill that was passed in the Assembly today," Deputy CM said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)