Patna, April 3: Supporters of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha today projected him as the future chief minister of Bihar.

The move was seen as a bid to consolidate Kushwaha's position among members of the Koiri caste, the second largest community under Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Slogans of "Bihar ka CM kaisa ho Upendra Kushwaha jaisa ho" rent the air at SK Memorial Hall.

The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) was celebrating the birth anniversary of emperor Asoka on a grand-scale.

The capacity of the hall was 2,300 but an equal number of people stood outside the hall to listen to their leader.

Speaker after speaker, who addressed the gathering, had just one agenda in mind - projecting Kushwaha as the next chief minister of Bihar, replacing Nitish Kumar. Not only small leaders but even MPs and MLAs of the party echoed the same.

When Kushwaha came on the dais, he asked his supporters not to shout slogans projecting him as the future chief minister, which was a tactic of every veteran leader. "This shows that people want to see me as chief minister."

Kushwaha did not broach the topic of chief minister and directly switched to launch an attack on chief minister Nitish Kumar.

"Nitish Kumar jinka vote lete hai, unko hi chot dete hai (Nitish hurts those people who vote for him). If we want to keep our community alive and strong, we have to come together. We have to fight to get for our share and be united," Kushwaha said.

He termed Nitish a big artiste, who first prepares the plot and then takes away the credit.

Citing the example of prohibition in the state, Kushwaha said it was Nitish who opened the liquor shops in every nook and corner of the state and thereafter, took credit for the liquor ban.

"Nitish Kumar bahut bade kalakar hai (Nitish Kumar is big artist). You people must have seen in movies that how the actor sends fake goons to trouble the heroine and later appears from the dark and beats up the goons. Nitish did the same with prohibition - first, he offered liquor to the people of Bihar and now is taking the credit of prohibition," Kushwaha remarked.

He added that before prohibition, Nitish should focus on the health and education sectors in Bihar, which were on the verge of collapse.

Supporters gathering in large numbers at regular intervals kept raising slogans.

RLSP state president Bhudev Choudhary said the community must get its due and it could only be done when Kushwaha took over the chief minister's post.

Koiri caste is the second-largest block among OBCs in Bihar. Of late, Kushwaha has earned the title becoming the leader of the Kushwaha and Koiri castes, which comprises 7 per cent of the electorate in Bihar. Kushwaha said if required, he would launch a movement demanding the release the Caste Census.