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.

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted five weeks’ protection against Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) to national spokesperson of Congress Randeep Surjewala in a 23-year-old case of violent protest in the divisional commissioner’s court and office compound in Varanasi. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra ordered that a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against Mr Surjewala shall not be executed for five weeks.

The bench also granted four weeks to Mr Surjewala to move the application before the Varanasi court and seek cancellation of the NBW.

“We permit the petitioner to move the trial court for cancellation of NBW within four weeks and the warrant shall not be executed for the period ending after five weeks,” the bench said.

A Special Judge (MP-MLA) in Varanasi issued NBW on November 7, 2023, ordering him to be produced before the court on November 21 in connection with the case.

The court also wrote a letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner, directing him to ensure his appearance in the court on the prescribed date.

During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Mr Surjewala, told the bench that the case dates back to the year 2000 when an FIR was registered against him because of alleged political agitation he did as a youth Congress leader.

Mr Singhvi told the Supreme Court that the incident occurred in 2000, and the summons against Mr Surjewala was issued 22 years later in August 2022.

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.