This story is from July 18, 2016

Nitish to Akhilesh: Follow Lohia, ban liquor

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday at a meeting of party workers.
Nitish to Akhilesh: Follow Lohia, ban liquor
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar (File photo)
Key Highlights
  • Nitish asked Akhilesh Yadav to follow Ram Manohar Lohia’s principles by declaring UP a ‘dry state’
  • He also targeted PM Modi for “not fulfilling his promises” regarding the Ganga
  • He claimed that Modi and Amit Shah make organisational changes in the party whenever they conduct a rally in UP
Phulpur: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday at a meeting of party workers.
At the ‘Mandaliya Rajnitik Sammelan’ in Phulpur, about 30km from Allahabad, the Janata Dal (United) chief asked Akhilesh Yadav to follow Ram Manohar Lohia’s principles by declaring UP a ‘dry state’ and giving equal status to women by announcing quota for them.

He also took a dig at Modi by asking him to ban liquor in all BJP-ruled states if he was serious about Yoga. Nitish alleged that both Yadav and Modi seem to be under the influence of the liquor lobby due to which they were not implementing prohibition.
He said that Akhilesh claimed that farmers produce molasses as a byproduct of sugarcane, which in turn is used to make liquor and stopping its production would affect farmers.
“In Bihar too, we have sugar mills and our farmers also produce molasses, but even then the state was declared dry. After the ban, we produce ethanol which is more in demand and farmers are getting more income than they used to from molasses,” Nitish said.
Referring to the death of 17 people due to intake of spurious liquor in Etah district, he said, “What is happening in UP? I want to ask Akhilesh what is going on in UP.”
He also targeted Modi for “not fulfilling his promises” regarding the Ganga.
He claimed that Modi and his second-in-command Amit Shah make organisational changes in the party whenever they conduct a rally in UP.
“They made Anupriya Patel minister after our rally and Keshav Prasad Maurya became the head of state BJP after we conducted rally on his turf. Samajwadi Party, too, inducted Beni Prasad Verma after our rally,” he added.
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