A man hurled hurled a slipper at a podium where Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was seated with other senior JD(U) leaders in Patna on Thursday, prompting party supporters to land slaps, punches and kicks on him.

The slipper did not reach the stage and landed among the gathering, and the accused, who identified himself as Chandan, was taken away by police.

The incident took place when Nitish was seated on the podium with state JD(U) chief Vashishtha Narayan Singh during a 'Chhatra Samagam (students congregation) organised by the JD(U) at the Bapu Sabhagar auditorium to mark the birth anniversary of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan.

While being taken away by the police, Chandan, whose clothes were in tatters and body full of bruises, told reporters, 'I had registered my protest against the discriminatory reservation policy, which helps even the better off among the SCs, STs and OBCs even as the poorest of the poor among the Dalits have been left to fend for themselves.'

The man later said he belongs to Bihar’s Aurangabad district.

Bihar has witnessed a string of protests by anti-reservation activists lately. Several Union ministers have been shown black flags and ink thrown on their vehicles at a number of places in the state.