I am a novice in politics: Manjhi

Patna, Jan 8 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Thursday expressed his helplessness for repeatedly committing faux pas, saying he was a "novice" in politics.

"I have learnt everything except how to be clever, I am just a novice," a smiling Manjhi said at a function here.

He said he did not ask for but was given the responsibility to run the state. "I am running the government because the task was given to me."

On the likely merger of the Janata Dal-United and the Rashtriya Janata Dal to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said: "The merger will be finalised by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, I have no role in it."

Manjhi also praised private sector employees, saying they performed their duties better than government employees.

"I don't know why everything fails in the public sector, but the same work is done smoothly in the private sector," he said.

Expressing displeasure over the poor work culture, Manjhi gave an example of teachers in government schools.

"A government school teacher gets Rs.40,000 per month and a private school teacher gets only Rs.10,000, but teachers of government schools don't come on time and leave before time. This has badly affected the quality of education in government schools."

He said this lack of discipline has led to government school students struggling to read even Hindi alphabets, while primary students of private schools were speaking fluent English.