Patna: Bihar urban development and housing minister Suresh Kumar Sharma, accused of a "drunken" brawl with the staff of a hotel in the Bengal temple town of Tarapith, on Wednesday threatened to approach the Prime Minister's Office and the Union home ministry over the "ill-treatment" he and his staff members had to face.

Sharma, who arrived in Patna on Tuesday evening, on Wednesday met chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and submitted a letter detailing his version of the incident. Sharma also gave a copy of the letter to DGP P.K. Thakur to take up the issue with his Bengal counterpart.

Sharma rubbished allegations that he and his men were drunk. "Entire Muzaffarpur town and my colleagues in the party and ministry know that I am a teetotaller," he said. "When I came to know that the hotel staff were saying that me and my staff members were under the influence of liquor I asked the police to carry out alcohol tests on us."

He repeated the charge that the Bengal government had not given him police security as per protocol. The state government backed the minister. Nitish, it is learnt, had called up Sharma as soon as he got to know on Monday.

Deputy chief minister Modi tweeted: "Urban development and housing minister Suresh Sharma is a decent person and he had gone to Tarapith to perform puja. The Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee with ulterior motive had attacked the minister at the hotel, tarnishing the image of Bihar. The respected minister's past is not like the RJD's Shahabuddin or Raj Ballabh Prasad,".

BJP sources said the party has decided to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha. The RJD targeted Nitish for not taking action against Sharma.