(From left) Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes PL Punia, MP Jai Narayan Nishad, former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma and JD(U) MLA Chhedi Paswan at SK Memorial Hall in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Sept. 21: Eyeing the chief minister’s post, dissident JD(U) MLA Chhedi Paswan today said he refused to become a minister in the Nitish Kumar government.

“I will either become a Union minister or the chief minister of this state,” he said at a meeting organised by him, to celebrate the 98th birth anniversary of former chief minister Bhola Paswan Shastri at SK Memorial Hall. Former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, who was the chief guest at the function, also endorsed Chhedi’s claim of being the chief minister of Bihar.

Chhedi, a frequent party hopper, was a minister in Nitish’s NDA-I government. He was dropped in the NDA-II. Sangma, on the other hand, was NDA’s candidate in the recent presidential elections. He, however, failed to get the support of the JD(U) as the party backed Pranab Mukherjee.

At the function, Chhedi alleged that Nitish’s government is encouraging corruption in the state. “This government is caught up in corruption cases. Spending Rs 50 lakh to prepare a detailed project report of 1-km road is an instance of rampant corruption,” he said. Sources said it should not take more than Rs 1 lakh to prepare such a report.

Chhedi added: “This government also talks about development but so far I have not found any such thing here. Huge scams have been unearthed in maintenance of zamindari dams and almost Rs 500 crore have been misappropriated. I demand a CBI probe into the matter.”

Hearing Chhedi, Sangma came in full support of the MLA. “I think Chhedi Paswan is chief minister material. There is no doubt about it,” he said. More than 2,000 people at the venue applauded Chhedi for his “fearless speech”.