This has turned into a triangle now. The story of custody of mango, litchi and jackfruit trees inside the premises of Bihar chief minister's bungalow in Patna has got a new claimant- RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav

The former Bihar chief minister on Friday put forth his claim over the fruit trees. Talking to reporters in Araria, Lalu Prasad said the trees in the CM house were planted during his and wife Rabri Devi's subsequent tenures.

"Litchi, aam ke pedo par mera aur Rabri ka haq hai. Humne hi waha ke ped lagaye they (I and Rabri have first right over mango and litchi trees. We had planted them there)," Lalu said.

Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi had earlier accused present chief minister Nitish Kumar of having deployed a posse of policemen to stand guard around all mango, litchi and jackfruit trees at 1, Aney Marg Bungalow.

"This reflects the narrow mindset of Nitish," Manjhi had alleged, adding, "This has been done to prevent a scheduled caste leader from eating the fruits."

Nitish was quick to rubbish the charges. He said he had no idea who had deployed the policemen. "This is a trivial matter. When I came to know about it, I asked the police chief about it. He also had no idea either. I told him to probe the issue and make the matter public."

The chief minister said had he known about it, he would have got all the fruits plucked and delivered to Manjhi. "And if there are some rules involving the cost, I would have paid the amount from my salary for that," he had said.

"I am concerned about awaam (people), and he (Manjhi) about aam (mango)," Nitish said.