Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar gave it back to Tejashwi Yadav in the Assembly on Wednesday, a day after the leader of Opposition tore into the government in his speech.

"I do not believe in firing daily tweets and statements. He (RJD chief Lalu Prasad) has been convicted. They (the RJD) would have expected me to speak in his favour and go to jail to meet him. Am I in politics for this?" Nitish said in his over-one-hour speech on the governor's address.

The RJD and Congress MLAs walked out from the Assembly when Nitish was talking on steps taken by the government to lessen land disputes in the state.

"They have staged a walkout when I was speaking about land because one family has acquired so much land," Nitish quipped in a direct dig at the RJD first family.

When Nitish began to speak on the Muzaffarpur incident in which nine schoolchildren were killed, Tejashwi alleged that the chief minister was "twisting" it to make it sound as if it was an ordinary accident. "The car hit over 30 persons," Tejashwi said.

A visibly irked Nitish retorted that he was not only talking about the accident but also steps taken by the government to minimise road accidents. The duel would have escalated, but the Speaker reminded Tejashwi that he had not allowed any other person to speak while Tejashwi was speaking on Tuesday.

Nitish defended the administration action after the Muzaffarpur accident, and hinted at seeking permission from the Centre to change the Motor Vehicle Act for bringing in harsher punishment for rash driving, creating underpasses and road flyovers in populated areas, and creating awareness on subjects such as zebra crossing. He said he had set up a committee under the development commissioner to suggest ways for road safety.

Nitish also took on Tejashwi's claim of having pictures of JDU leaders drinking liquor: "Just show the photographs you have, and action will be taken immediately."

The CM took several digs at his former ally Lalu, such as: "I tried to teach him when he was with me for 20 months, but he refused to learn."

While defending the government on the law and order front, Nitish taunted the RJD.

"I had introduced prohibition when I was with you. You had joined hands at Gandhi Maidan in the human chain in favour of prohibition. Now you are backing out," he said.