Patna, Aug. 1: Now that the Brothers Bihari - Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad - have fallen out, they are at each other's throat over who "created" whom.

Lalu today dubbed his chhota bhai "Paltoo Ram" (somersault master), alleged that Nitish broke the Grand Alliance because he was meant to be chief minister for only one term, and answered a question that Nitish had hurled at him.

Yesterday, at his first at his first news conference of his sixth term, Nitish had declared that he had given Lalu a political launch pad by making him the president of Patna University (PU) Students' Union. Nitish had also claimed he was instrumental in getting Lalu elected the leader of the Lok Dal in the Assembly in the late '80s after the death of Karpoori Thakur by convincing MLAs to side with Lalu, which resulted in Lalu throwing his cap in the CM's race.

"What has he (Lalu) done for me to ensure I became an MLA, MP or Union minister?" Nitish had asked.

"I am senior to Nitish," Lalu said today at his own news conference. "I became MP in 1977 when Nitish was no-where in the picture. I won the president of PU election because there was a consolidation of backward caste students and girl students in my favour. I was the convener of the students agitation unit cell set up by JP (Jayaprakash Narayan), Nitish was nowhere in sight then."

Nitish had lost two Assembly polls from Harnaut in 1977 and '80, Lalu pointed out.

"When Nitish was contesting from the Barh Lok Sabha seat in 1991 it was at his pleading I had gone and met the terror of the area, Dular Chand Yadav, and got photographed with him for support to Nitish," Lalu said, outlining his role in the chief minister's political career. "Nitish told me that if the late Ram Lakhan Singh (then a senior Congress leader) contested from Barh, he would lose. I called Ram Lakhan babu and requested him not to contest from Barh. I gave Ram Lakhan babu a Janata Dal ticket from Ara and adjusted his son as an MLC. It was only then that Nitish won."

Before the 2015 Assembly elections he was reluctant to announce Nitish as the chief minister face of the Grand Alliance, Lalu said.

"I know the character of Nitish. But Mulayam prevailed upon me to accept Nitish as the CM face," he reiterated. "I asked Mulayamji to make the announcement himself as my voters would resent making me the announcement."

Lalu scoffed at Nitish for dubbing him as a caste leader.

"If Paltoo Ram does not do caste politics why did he go to the Kurmi rally in 1994? He brought officers of his caste from various states and gave them key posts," Lalu alleged.

He also claimed that under the agreement Nitish was to be chief minister for one term because Nitish himself had said that they were getting old.

"Nitish was envious of my son Tejashwi Yadav and wanted a second term. He wanted to sacrifice my son," claimed.

Lalu mocked Nitish's claim of being a mass leader.

"In 2014, when we fought Lok Sabha elections separately, the RJD and its allies came first or second in over 200 assembly segments. Nitish's JDU came first or second in only 30 Assembly segments. In the Assembly polls we gave traditional RJD seats to the JDU," Lalu said, denying that he could not transfer his votes to JDU candidates.

"It was a mistake and I was used," Lalu said.

He also brushed aside Nitish's remarked that he created hurdles in governance by calling up superintendents of police and district magistrates. "Thousands of people come to me with their problems. I still call up officials to plead their case. Nitish never allows the poor people near him. He feels suffocated by the smell of the poor and downtrodden," Lalu alleged.

Lalu claimed he had saved Nitish several times.

"In the Rajya Sabha bypolls when several JDU MLAs revolted, my party supported his candidates. Again when he was in trouble with Jitan Ram Manjhi he came to meet me in a Mehrauli farm house in Delhi with his adviser Prashant Kishor and requested me to help him in getting the resignation of Manjhi. I tried on his behalf and announced my support for Nitish in formation of a government. I gave Nitish a fresh lease of life in politics. It was my mistake and I will regret it my whole life," Lalu said.

Nitish and Lalu did, however, seem to agree one thing - that the Grand Alliance did not function smoothly. "The government was a failure; only my son Tejashwi succeeded," Lalu declared.