Patna: Ruling allies BJP and JDU came out in defence of Bihar urban development minister Suresh Sharma on Tuesday, a day after the management of a hotel in Bengal's temple town of Tarapith accused him and his entourage of indulging in a brawl in a drunken state.

Senior BJP leaders Nand Kishore Yadav, Prem Kumar and Mangal Pandey slammed the Bengal government.

"The protocol was not followed in this case as the minister was not provided security cover which is the basic courtesy and even the local police didn't behave responsibly in this case," Nand Kishore said.

Asked for his comment about the incident - in which the hotel management and the minister and his men have accused each other of violence - Nand Kishore said that it was a matter of probe but "the fact remains" that the Bengal government "acted in a biased manner".

Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey declared that the incident was a reflection of the dislike of the BJP in Bengal's ruling Trinamul Congress.

"My personal view is that in the past two years or so, whenever a BJP leader goes to Bengal the government-backed officials and Trinamul workers try to insult them," Pandey said.

Minister Sharma is a BJP MLA from Muzaffarpur. Pandey too maintained that if any minister visits another state it becomes the responsibility of that state to provide security and accommodation.

"In this case nothing was done on the part of Bengal government," Pandey said.

The incident, he said, reflects that political revenge has been taken to a new low.

Senior BJP leader and agriculture minister Prem Kumar echoed Pandey and maintained that Bengal's ruling party had a negative approach towards the BJP. He demanded legal action against those who had "misbehaved" with the Bihar minister and said the "dilly-dally" approach of the local administration and police was a matter of concern.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, however, avoided commenting on the issue. Even BJP insiders were surprised at his silence and one of them revealed that Modi himself had faced harsh treatment from the Bengal police.

Recalling a 1996 incident, when Modi was leader of Opposition in Bihar, the insider said that while going to Kishanganj along with some people the Bengal police had seized Modi's vehicle at Dalkhola and even though Modi introduced himself to the cops and pleaded for the release of the vehicle as he had to take part in a public meeting to be addressed by Murli Manohar Joshi, the cops did not release the vehicle.

"Finally we travelled by tractor for some distance and then took a bus to reach Kishanganj," added the BJP insider.

JDU secretary-general K.C. Tyagi called the incident an "attack on integrity and sovereignty of Bihar".

"I am afraid such incidents may give rise to interstate fighting. This is an insult of Bihar state because a state minister was misbehaved with by some ruffians. Even the Bengal government should condemn the incident," Tyagi said.