The Bihar assembly witnessed a heated exchange on Tuesday between the leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav and members of the ruling NDA, over functioning of the Nitish Kumar government.

Yadav, who was participating in a discussion on the governor's address to a joint session of the bicameral legislature, made a scathing attack on the state government.

"'Sarkar khatara, system khatara, mukhyamantri thaka hara, aadmi ghoom raha mara mara’ (the government is like a rickety old car, the system is defunct, the CM is a spent force and the people are distraught,” asserted Yadav.

"What was there in Bihar earlier? It was I who made your (Tejashwi Yadav) father what he became. Even the people from your caste were asking me why I was doing this, but I still supported him," the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hit back.

Amid a huge uproar by the opposition led by Tejashwi Yadav, Kumar continued, "You don't know anything. When Lalu Yadav was opposing the separation of Extremely Backward Classes and Backward Classes in Bihar. I said it was wrong, and I opposed him at that time.

Earlier in the assembly, Tejashwi Yadav compared the previous government in Bihar, led by his father and former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, and slammed the regime led by his former ally Nitish Kumar.

The 74-year-old Nitish Kumar got miffed over the ruckus and told the opposition members in an admonitory tone, "You people are children. Do you know what was the situation back then?" Pointing towards Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, Kumar said, "Even he is a child", and raised his finger in the direction of the press gallery to remark, "Ask the journalists if you want to know how bad things were back then." The CM, who has been a BJP ally for most part of his career, also indirectly referred to the RJD-Congress combine with the remark, "Earlier, the state was always plagued by clashes between Hindus and Muslims. Those who used to get Muslim votes could never put an end to this. When I took over, disputes over land meant for graveyards (kabristan) was identified as a major factor." Fencing of thousands of graveyards was, therefore, carried out, with the government bearing the entire expenses. The government also brought to justice all those who were said to have been involved in the Bhagalpur riots (of 1989). This is how the government put an end to Hindu-Muslim clashes, Kumar said.

Soon afterwards, opposition MLAs staged a walkout and the CM taunted them with the remark, "After the elections, we will be back and they will be decimated. They have run away because they neither know nor understand anything." The JD(U) supremo, who had quit the INDIA bloc last year to return to the NDA, asserted "we are together again and will remain so", even as he accused Yadav, his former deputy, of wrongdoing (tum gadbad kar rahe the).

Taking potshots at leaders of both BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), he reminded Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of their roots in what is now called the INDIA bloc.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who is a senior JD(U) leader, rose to say, "I admit having been in the Congress. But the leader of the opposition has said a lot about efforts made by his father (RJD president Lalu Prasad) to set right the wrongs committed by the past governments. In effect, he has attacked the Congress, his own alliance partner".

To Yadav's charge that as a Congress minister Chaudhary had made a fortune till the party was voted out of power in 1990, the JD(U) leader replied, "I have been your cabinet colleague, too. I always do my job. It is some other people who use power to build a fortune".

The allusion was to numerous corruption cases against the RJD supremo and his family members.

However, an unfazed Yadav trained his guns at Samrat Choudhary, a BJP leader whom the former had preceded as the deputy chief minister.

"You are a counterfeit BJP man. It is your fellow Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha who is the real deal. How many years have it been since you joined the party? Have you ever visited Nagpur (headquarters of the RSS)?,” asked Yadav.

A visibly irritated Choudhary shot back, saying "you speak about what bad things your father used to say about all those with whom he joined hands at a later stage".

"And don't try to remind me of too many things. I also do remember having been sent to jail by your father,” said Choudhary without elaborating.

BJP sources, however, could not recall any instance of Choudhary, who held a cabinet berth in the government headed by Yadav's mother Rabri Devi, having ended up behind bars.

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