The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on Thursday put in the dock in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly by its own party legislators over the issue of sale of illegal liquor in the State.
Raising the issue through a calling attention notice, Yogita Nawalsingh Borkar alleged that illegal liquor was being sold openly by licenced contractors in several villages in Pandhana Assembly segment in Khandwa. She claimed that illegal liquor has caused the death of several people.
She said she has made several complaints to the Collector, the Excise Officer and senior police officers but no action has been taken in this regard. In his reply, Commercial Tax Minister Jayant Malaiya said the Civil Surgeon has submitted his report and, in his report no hospitalisation or death took place due to consumption of illegal liquor in the area. He said the endeavour of the administration to prevent conveyance of illegal liquor was an ongoing process.
Several BJP members, including Neena Verma, Rameshwar Sharma and Shankarlal Tiwari, and a few Congress members stood up and created noisy scenes demanding to make comments over the issue. Deputy Speaker Rajendra Kumar Singh said that the Chair had already provided that only a single question could be raised by the member who has given the calling attention notice.
However, the members continued to create noisy scenes demanding that the sale of illegal liquor be curbed. Meanwhile, former leader of opposition and senior Congress member Ajay Singh also made a comment that was expunged from the proceedings but triggered a heated exchange between ruling and opposition party members.