Patna: The intense political rivalry between chief minister Nitish Kumar and his protégé-turned-bitter foe Jitan Ram Manjhi has reached aam proportions – literally so.

Manjhi, who was installed as chief minister by Nitish and later dethroned, today accused his former boss of deploying a posse of policemen at 1 Aney Marg to keep an eye on the luscious mangoes and litchis that grow on the gardens of the sprawling premises of the bungalow.

The address is the official residence of the Bihar chief minister, but Manjhi continues to occupy it though he demitted office in February this year.

The former chief minister alleged that Nitish has ordered the deployment of at least two dozen policemen to guard the myriad fruits and vegetables, so that no one from Manjhi’s family plucks them. Manjhi said that in all, eight sub-inspectors and 16 constables have been deployed for this purpose.

“I often receive guests from Dalit families. Their children sometimes pluck the mangoes and litchis. However, it seems that Nitish Kumar does not like this and so he has deputed two dozen policemen at 1 Aney Marg to guard the mango trees and litchi orchards,” said Manjhi.

The official residence of the Bihar chief minister is housed on a road named after the state’s second post-Independence governor, Madhav Shrihari Aney, who held office from January 1948 to June 1952. The bungalow is spread over five acres of land.

RJD leader Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi lived at 1 Aney Marg for over 15 years through their stints as chief minister before Nitish occupied it in 2006 after sweeping to power in November 2005.

Nitish, who vacated the address after stepping down as chief minister in May last year following the Lok Sabha poll debacle, took special care of the bungalow and he got planted herbal and aromatic plants, apart from varieties of fruits and vegetables. At present, the bungalow has more than 100 herbal and aromatic plants. Besides, there are around 35 mango trees growing the Amrapali and Dasheri variety of the fruit. Also, the gardens have 15 orchards growing the high quality Shahi litchi.

Nitish’s favourite, according to sources inside the bungalow who didn’t wish to be named, was a peepal tree in the lawn. On Jaunary 4, 2013, he got the Dalai Lama to sanctify the tree in the Buddhist tradition. When Nitish took charge as chief minister after Manjhi was removed, the first thing he did was offer flowers to the peepal tree.

The bungalow also grows banana, guava, beetroot, sugar-apple, papaya and Indian blackberry.

With elections round the corner and allegiances being formed and broken, political rivals are raking up the aam issue hoping it would yield political fruit.

Devendra Kumar, a son-in-law of Manjhi who had courted controversy last year, sought to play the Dalit card. “The chief minister is trying to humiliate us. He is discriminating against us by not allowing Dalits to eat the fruits and vegetables growing on the gardens of the house we live in,” said Devendra, who had come under the scanner following his appointment as then chief minister Manjhi’s personal assistant, a government-paid job. Under the rules, relatives of the chief minister or those holding constitutional posts cannot be appointed as personal assistants.

Senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who has been vocal against Nitish’s candidature as chief minister in case of an alliance with the JDU, gave a fruity twist to his tirade. “Politicians living in ministerial bungalows get the right to use the fruits and vegetable grown within their premises. What they cannot do is cut the trees or uproot any vegetable. The deployment of police should be for maintaining law and order in the state and not to guard mangoes and litchis,” he said.

JDU spokesperson Ajay Alok slammed Manjhi, dubbing his latest attack as a case of “sour grapes”. “Jitan Ram Manjhi is making useless remarks against Nitishji. There should not be so much of hue and cry over fruits and vegetables. He (Manjhi) has had enough of mangoes, it’s time he has some sweet grapes,” said Alok.