Poll plank? Bihar CM woos voters, especially women, with booze ban

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is getting into full poll mode and is leaving no stone unturned to woo voters. Although Kumar could not develop Bihar like Gujarat or Kerala, he is planning to implement one thing and that is liquor ban.

In the run-up to the polls, slated in the end of the year, Kumar announced that he would ban booze in the state, if voted back again.
“There will be prohibition in the state if I am voted to power again," Kumar said during a public gathering in Patna.

The announcement was cheered by women and women's organisations, who have been demanding full prohibition, complaining that the state's liberal excise policy has led to increase in liquor vends in the state.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) termed it as a poll plank.

"Why should he wait for three months to implement prohibition? It will take only a few minutes to enforce it," BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told Economic Times.

However, he was unable to give a strong response when asked whether the BJP would implement liquor ban in the state.

"It is not a question of what our official stand is, the situation varies from one state to another, and Gujarat happens to be the only state where there is total prohibition. Nitish Kumar is only enacting drama by promising prohibition. If he has the guts, let him implement prohibition now and BJP will wholeheartedly support such a move," Modi told ET.

In 1977, the then Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur had banned liquor but alcohol returned after 18 months when Ram Sunder Das succeeded from Thakur.

Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad Yadav supported Kumar’s announcement. "RJD will welcome any decision which the Nitish government takes in the interest of the people. RJD is of the view that the families of poor people suffer the most on account of alcohol consumption," national spokesperson Manoj Jha told ET.

(Image: Indiatimes)