A sharp political exchange erupted in Patna on Saturday as Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi launched a direct attack on Bihar’s Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, criticising him for skipping the ongoing Assembly session. Manjhi claimed that Tejashwi’s absence reflected a deeper political setback following the recent electoral defeat.

Speaking to reporters, Manjhi said Tejashwi had been “so crushed by defeat” that he no longer wished to face the public. “Tejashwi Yadav has been so crushed by defeat that they don’t even want to come among the people,” he remarked, pointing to the RJD leader’s limited public appearances since the election results.

Manjhi further alleged that Tejashwi and the RJD camp had been overly confident during the campaign, even going so far as to speak publicly about distributing ministries and preparing their government structure in advance. “They had said a lot of things during the elections. They had distributed the ministries,” he said. “But the results that came were exactly the opposite, and they fell straight into a pit.”