‘Bar on cruise…on holy river Ganga’: Akhilesh Yadav's claim & swipe at BJP
According to the official information, the facilities on the MV Ganga Vilas cruise include vegetarian Indian cuisine, assorted non-alcoholic beverages, a spa and doctors-on-call.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - ruling at the Centre - over the world's largest luxury river cruise Ganga Vilas, alleging that the BJP is “lying” when they say they started the cruise. The cruise services were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. “This (cruise) is not new… this has been there (on the river) for the last 17 years… they (BJP) have only expanded it,” Akhilesh Yadav said in a press briefing. The Samajwadi Party president also accused the rival party of serving alcohol on the cruise that sails on river Ganga.
Read more | Kashi looks on in delight as stunner Ganga Vilas preens in the waters
“The people of BJP are much ahead when it comes to corruption and lying. I have also heard that it is not just a cruise… there's also a bar in it” the leader of opposition in the UP assembly said, further hitting out at the BJP.
“So far, we used to hear about aarti and pooja paath (prayer rituals). We have been there, taken those boat rides… people have explained to us… what is permitted and what should not be done because it is a holy place… now whether the cruise has a bar or not only BJP can tell us,” Yadav said.
According to the official information, the facilities on the MV Ganga Vilas cruise include vegetarian Indian cuisine, assorted non-alcoholic beverages, a spa and doctors-on-call. There is no mention regarding a bar on cruise or serving alcohol on the website.
Prime Minister Modi flagged off Ganga Vilas – touted as the world's longest river cruise – in his own constituency of Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on Friday via video conferencing. A total of 32 Swiss tourists are taking the maiden trip as the cruise travels through the Ganga river for 51 days covering five Indian states, as well as Bangladesh, to finally reach Dibrugarh in Assam.
The cruise costs about ₹20 lakh for a full trip and is completely booked till March.
