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All-party meet in Bihar to discuss prohibition remains inconclusive
The meeting was called following heated exchanges between the treasury and the opposition benches on Thursday after leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav levelled serious charges against a minister and described prohibition as a failure.
An all-party meeting called by Bihar assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Monday to decide on the Opposition’s demand for a debate on prohibition remained inconclusive, people familiar with the matter said.
The day’s session got underway smoothly soon after with the question hour without any reference to what transpired in the chamber of the Speaker from any side.
The meeting was called following er heated exchanges between the treasury and the opposition benches on Thursday after leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav levelled serious charges against Ram Surat Kumar, a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, and described prohibition as a failure. He raised the issue of recovery of liquor bottles from a school with which the minister’s brother is associated and an FIR that has also been lodged in the case.
Though there was no official statement about the outcome of the meeting, people familiar with the development said the government made it clear that the minister would not give any clarification on the matter and that the opposition should first allow the House to run properly. The Speaker also did not decide on any special debate.
The Speaker could not be contacted for comments.
The opposition RJD had also demanded an adjournment motion three days ago on the issue of recovery of liquor from the school the minister’s kin is associated with and later, after an ugly spat with the BJP, staged a walkout. The RJD also took out a march to the Raj Bhawan, alleging failure of prohibition due to rampant smuggling that have been underlined by frequent seizures.
With the demand for adjournment motion rejected by the Speaker, Tejaswhi insisted that there should be debate on the matter in the House. The Speaker then called an all-party meeting to discuss the matter.
Four ministers, including parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, deputy chief minister Tar Kishore Prasad, energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and rural development minister Shravan Kumar, leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Congress legislature party leader Ajeet Sharma, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM-S and other legislature party leaders attended the meeting at 10 am.
Ahead of the meeting, BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand hit out at Tejashwi for making an issue out of nothing to discredit prohibition which was actually aimed at the betterment of the society. “The way the Opposition is doing propaganda about prohibition, it seems it is hand in glove with the liquor mafia. They should try to contribute in making prohibition a success for the larger good of the society they are also part of,” he said.
