Uma Bharati flays Nitish for partial ban on liqour

Patna, Apr 1: Union Minister Uma Bharati today took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for banning sale and production of country-made liqour in the state, saying he should show courage and enforce total prohibition.

"Nitishji ye kya hua? Aapne deshi sharab band karke videshi sharab aur khol di. Himmat dikhaiye videshi sharab bhi bandh kar dijiye (What have you done Nitishji? You have banned production and consumption of country-made liquor and opened up more shops of foreign liqour....Show courage and ban foreign liqour too)," Bharati said in a tweet a day after the Bihar government had partially banned liqour in the state.

Bharati's jibe at the Chief Minister came a day after she had congratulated him for enforcing liqour ban in Bihar with effect from midnight and urged him to maintain its enforcement in future also.

In a tweet yesterday, the Union Minister had said: "Nitishji sharab bandhi ka kaam bahut achcha hua. isko banaye rakhiyega (Nitishji, you have done a good job by banning liqour...maintain enforcement of liqour ban in future)."

The Bihar Chief Minister's bold move to ban liqour albeit partially had drew praise from the RSS too with its Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale lauding the legislative assembly for passing the prohibition bill and declaring Bihar a dry state two days ago.

"Hearty congratulations to Bihar Assembly for unanimously passing prohibition bill and declaring Bihar a dry state. Historic. Kudos!" Hosabale had said in a tweet on March 30.

Interestingly, RSS chief Mohan Bhawat had retweeted Hosabale's tweet to voice his approval to the Bihar government's decision to enforce liqour ban in a phased manner.

PTI