PATNA, May 13:
Union Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today took a dig at the state government`s prohibition drive by saying liquor consumption could not be completely banned in the state.
“Prohibition in the state is merely a slogan,” Sharpening his attack Mr Paswan told newspersons here that the State Government which had faced major embarrassment recently when the police claimed that rodents consumed more than 9 lakh litres of liquor seized during the anti-liquor drive.
Asserting that Bihar would continue to suffer till Nitish Kumar holds the post of Chief Minister, Mr Paswan said Mr Kumar was only beating drums on prohibition but the fact of the matter was that people were losing lives after consuming spurious liquor.
Mr Paswan earlier held a high level review meeting of his party with an objective to formulate strategy for broadening the party`s support base. He said media had prominently covered how rodents consumed lakhs of litres of liquor and asserted that the state government knew well who were these rodents.
” Mr Kumar`s failure in catching these alcoholic rodents is glaring and he is now trying to hush-up the matter itself,” he pointed out.
Mr Paswan said the corruption had reached its peak and similarly law and order situation was deteriorating every day. He asked the state Government to explain what steps it had taken to curb corrupt practices and check rising crime graph. Mr Kumar could not shirk his responsibility by not speaking on these issues and becoming a ‘mauni baba’.
To a query on various corruption charges levelled against RJD Chief Lalu Prasad and his family members, the LJP chief said that Mr Kumar was maintaining a stoic silence on these issues even when the biggest constituent partner of the grand alliance was in dock.
“At least, the CM should accept it or deny it,” he commented. He said on the other hand, Uttar Pradesh had witnessed a significant change after the installation of a new government in the state less than two months back. To a query on faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Mr Paswan said nobody could tamper with them.
Speaking on his party`s high level meeting, Mr Paswan said it was decided to constitute party committees at the booth level. Around 70 per cent of booth level committees had been constituted in the state so far, he added.
The LJP chief said that his party would organise a conference here on November 28 to mark the establishment day of the party. He said that Panchayat and booth level workers, party`s block and district presidents and office bearers of the party`s state unit would participate in the conference. He said that the party had fixed the target of enrolling 30 lakh new members in the state (UNI)
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