A wordy duel between Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar’s party JD(U) has sparked a debate in the political circles over Das’s aggressive stand against total prohibition policy in Bihar.
Das on Tuesday hit at Nitish for his campaign against prohibition and asked who was responsible for promoting alcohol in Bihar for ten years. The Jharkhand CM is seemingly peeved over Nitish’s plan to visit Dhanbad on May 10 to campaign for prohibition in Jharkhand.
Bihar CM has been invited to Dhanbad by pro-prohibition women groups to address rallies there. A week before Nitish’s proposed visit to Jharkhand Das stepped up his attack on his Bihar counterpart. He said instead of a Bihar model on prohibition he would prefer Gujarat model. Das reacted angrily, “Bihar ko nasheri kis ne banayaIJ Apne satta ke nashe me das sal Biharion ko nasheri banaya. Ab un par doosri cheez ka nasha charha hai. Unka bukhar jaldi utar jayega. (Who is responsible for promoting liquor in BiharIJ For ten years of his rule he made Biharis alcoholic. Now he has a hangover of another thing but soon his hangover will be eliminated.)
The relations between the CMs of the two neighbouring States soured recently after Nitish wrote him personally seeking his help in checking the smuggling of liquor from Jharkhand to Bihar. Das instead of replying to Nitish, forwarded his letter to his excise department. Nitish took it as violation of protocol. He was also furious that instead of extending any help the Jharkhand government gave new licenses for opening of new liquor outlets on the Bihar-Jharkhand border.
Even though Nitish did not reply to Das’s allegations, the JD(U) leader KC Tyagi
Said Das’s statement and language for a CM was undignified. “We are Gandhi vadi but Das is not. Nitish will also travel to lucknow and Vardha Ashram (Gujarat) at the invitation of local women groups to campaign for prohibition. Bihar JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said the ten years rule Das was referring to was of NDA in which BJP was a partner. But he is ignoring the role of his own party in that decision, he added.