A back and forth ensued between Nitish Kumar and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav in the Bihar Assembly on Tuesday after the chief minister brushed aside the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, saying he was too young to be questioning him, NDTV reported.

Kumar was replying to the motion of thanks to the governor on the third day of the Budget session. The Janata Dal (United) leader, who was speaking about his government’s achievements, was persistently interrupted by Yadav.

At some point, Kumar also took a dig at Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad and blamed his government for the abysmal state of development in Bihar, according to IANS. The JD(U) leader alleged that the level of electricity was at its lowest during Prasad’s tenure.

Yadav countered the allegations. He pointed out that when RJD was in power, Kumar was a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He wondered why Kumar did not use his position to pressure the Centre to improve the infrastructure in Bihar.

In return, Kumar suggested that Yadav was too young at that time to be questioning him. “When I was there, you were a child,” he said. “Haven’t you played in my lap?”

The Janata Dal (United) leader added that Yadav should listen to him for his own good. “Later say whatever you like, but listen to what I am saying right now,” Kumar told him in the Assembly. “You will be benefited by it.”

‘We reduced you to 40 seats’

As the sharp exchanges continued, Yadav took a swipe at Kumar’s dismal performance in the Assembly elections last year. The RJD leader added that Kumar had become a puppet in the hands of the BJP, who he used to call “the biggest party of liars”, reported Times Now.

“Without knowing the A, B, C of Bihar, we reduced your tally to 40 seats,” Yadav said. “Had we known the X, Y, Z, you would not have been able to open your account in the Assembly.” His comment came as a response to the chief minister’s claims that those who do not possess even the basic knowledge of Bihar, “keep raising unnecessary issues”.

The 2020 Bihar state elections turned out to be more closely fought than expected. The two main contending alliances, the National Democratic Alliance and the Mahagatbandhan, ended up with identical vote share (37.2%) but with a different number of seats – 125 against 110 in the 243-member Assembly.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal emerged as the party with the largest number of seats but lost the election. The BJP-JD(U) coalition won 125 seats in the 243-member state Assembly, while the Opposition alliance comprising of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and Left parties, won 110 seats.

During his speech on Tuesday, Yadav also hit out at the Nitish Kumar government over the rising incidents of crime, and said the crime rates have increased twofold in the state under NDA rule.