Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday launched a no-holds barred attack on his predecessor Jitan Ram Manjhi inside the Assembly, saying that he became the Chief Minister “due to my mistake and foolishness”.
Nitish Kumar used some rough language, saying he was doing so to expose him.
He also said that Manjhi does not have any sense and even his family members considered him senseless and useless.
“He (Manjhi) does not have any idea of how he became the Chief Minister. It was my mistake that I made that man the Chief Minister in 2013. He does not have any sense. He just speaks unnecessarily here and there. His statements have no value.
“In August 2022, I separated from the NDA and formed the government with 6 parties in Bihar. He ran away from the NDA and joined us. I asked him to stay there but he came with us. We deliberately threw him out from the government,” Nitish Kumar said.
Following Nitish Kumar’s attack, Manjhi objected to it and kept saying this is wrong but neither Nitish Kumar nor Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary were ready to listen to him.
Nitish Kumar asked Manjhi to sit. “Baitho na yaar, kuch jaante ho? (Do you know anything?)”
Addressing the legislators, Nitish Kumar said: “When I let you in 2013… I made him Chief Minister. In just two months, my party leaders started complaining to me that he is the wrong person. Hence, I removed him and became Chief Minister again. Now, he is saying he was also a Chief Minister of Bihar in the past. He became the Chief Minister due to my foolishness.”
Looking towards the press gallery, he said: “You people are unnecessarily publishing him. He does not have any sense.”
Addressed the BJP, he said: “I have a suggestion for you. He (Manjhi) is roaming behind you. He has a desire to become the Governor. So make him Governor. Why are you not making him Governor.”
Following his remarks, BJP leaders started shouting, but Nitish Kumar said: “Who has made him Chief Minister, you? You forget that he is the Chief Minister. He has become Chief Minister due to my foolishness…”
The entire controversy started after Manjhi, speaking in the Assembly, noted that the Scheduled Castes had been given the reservation in 1950 but they are only 3 per cent in government jobs. He said that the reservation has been enhanced but it is not implemented on the ground.
(IANS)
