Irked by RJD leader's speech, Jitan Ram Manjhi tries to walk away

A function to celebrate the 127th birth anniversary of the first chief minister of Bihar Sri Krishna Singh today witnessed an unpleasant scene when Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi tried to leave the dais as a local RJD leader spoke.

As the district-level RJD leader Urmila Thakur spoke for a longer time highlighting local issues, Manjhi, who had a tight schedule stood up to leave the dais at a function at Garhpura in Begusarai district.

He was heard telling organisers about shortage of time but people not sticking to their time-frame.

Manjhi who arrived here on a state helicopter had apparently told the organisers that he was running short of time due to his packed schedule.

He returned to his chair only after Minister Mahachandra Prasad Singh and other leaders holding the programme pacified him.

Later, the Chief Minister in his speech said while the function was to pay respect to Sri Krishna Singh, many speakers were busy highlighting problems of the area.

Paying his respects to the first chief minister, Manjhi said had he not helped dalits enter the famous Deogarh temple, people like him from the backward sections could not have reached the high chair of the CM.

After he left, the function saw a tiff between BJP MP Bhola Singh and JD(U) MLC Rudal Rai.

Rai objected to Singh's contention in his address that the state government was only making promises but was doing little to fullfill them.