Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi and former Chief Minister of Bihar has slammed Nitish Kumar over his remark in the ongoing Assembly session. This came after Nitish Kumar lost his cool and said that his “stupidity” had led his former protege Manjhi to occupy the highest seat of power in the state.

On Thursday, while speaking to the media, Mr Manjhi said that the Bihar Chief Minister had lost his mental balance and underestimated him.

“…I wanted to get up and speak (in the Assembly) but the Chief Minister got up and started saying nonsense. I was surprised if this was the same Nitish Kumar who was there a few days back. It seemed that he was here today in a different form. I think he has some mental weaknesses which is why he is saying this…I think he has lost his mental balance so he is saying this…He had underestimated Jitan Ram Manjhi. He thought that I belonged to Bhuiya-Mushar community and I will do whatever he says…” he said.

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar, in a fit of rage said that it was his stupidity that that had led to Manjhi to be the Chief Minister of the state.

“..It was my mistake that I made this person CM…My party people started saying after two months that there was some problem, remove him… Then I became (Chief Minister)… He keeps on saying that he was Chief Minister… He became Chief Minister because of my stupidity,” Mr Kumar screamed during the discussion on the Reservation Amendment Bill, causing commotion in the House.

It came after Mr Manjhi who is now with the opposition BJP-led NDA, rose to express doubts over the state government’s caste survey.

However, speaking about the same, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav said that hurling allegations at each other is the nature of the politics.

“It is the nature of politics that people hurl allegations at each other. It was Nitish Kumar who made Jitan Ram Manjhi the Chief Minister of Bihar. On the other hand, BJP wants to divert the attention of people from the Bill that was passed in the Assembly today,” Deputy CM said.

Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister N S Boseraju on Thursday said a special team comprising senior officers has been constituted to prevent digging of illegal borewells in Bengaluru Urban district.

He said this needs to be done to prevent the depletion of the groundwater table.

“It is true that, of late, permission is not being obtained to dig borewells in Bengaluru Urban district. We need to stop this as there have been complaints. I have instructed the Directorate of Groundwater to look into the matter,” Boseraju said.

The special team has been told to conduct random checks of borewells in surprise raids.

He also directed the Chief Engineer of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to instruct officials to conduct checks.

The special team has been constituted, as per the minister’s directions, under the leadership of Deputy Director of the Directorate of Groundwater G Jayanna and senior geologist H M Nagaraj, it was stated. 

An earthquake of magnitude 3.1 on the Richter Scale hit Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng, according to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).

As per the NCS, the earthquake occurred at 6:24 p.m. at a depth of 10 kilometres.

“Earthquake of Magnitude:3.1, Occurred on 09-11-2023, 18:24:03 IST, Lat: 27.34 & Long: 92.18, Depth: 10 Km, Location: West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh”, said the NCS in a post on ‘X’.

Earthquake of Magnitude:3.1, Occurred on 09-11-2023, 18:24:03 IST, Lat: 27.34 & Long: 92.18, Depth: 10 Km ,Location: West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh, India for more information Download the BhooKamp App https://t.co/BfYAQh9hPm@Indiametdept @ndmaindia @Dr_Mishra1966 @KirenRijiju pic.twitter.com/KreIuaabYD

— National Center for Seismology (@NCS_Earthquake) November 9, 2023

Earlier, an earthquake of magnitude 3.6 hit North Bengal on Wednesday morning.

The tremors were felt around 10 am in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district.