Patna: No quarters were given and none asked for when former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi shared the dais on Monday with his old foe, former Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary, after almost three years.

On February 20, 2015, when the battle between Manjhi, then with the JDU, and Nitish Kumar was at its peak, Choudhary, as Speaker, had single-handedly frustrated Manjhi's bid to retain power. Choudhary not only disqualified eight MLAs supporting Manjhi and declared him as unattached but also directed other MLAs close to Manjhi to sit in the ruling party benches and follow the whip. Manjhi had no option but to resign.

Since that fateful day, Manjhi has spared no occasion to target Choudhary. He took on and defeated Choudhary from Imamganj in the 2015 Assembly elections, publicly saying "he had to slay a demon".

On Monday, at a function at Vidyapati Bhavan to mark the birth anniversary of Dalit rights activist Jaglal Choudhary, the former Speaker Choudhary offered an olive branch to Manjhi. "I have been hearing Manjhi ji complain about me but I want to explain to him publicly so that he can forget the past," Choudhary said.

Without naming Nitish, the former Speaker added: "I was helpless because there was pressure from the chief minister (read Nitish Kumar) and the ruling party. Whatever I did was not my wish but a constitutional compulsion. If at all I have hurt you, I offer my apologies to you."

But Manjhi was in no mood to accept an apology. "I must reveal today that I had two letters in my pocket. One was to dissolve the Assembly and another was my resignation. Had I dissolved the Assembly, President's rule would have been imposed. I made the mistake by tendering my resignation but you made a historic blunder by disqualifying my MLAs. History will never forgive you," Manjhi said.