Nitish Kumar should call all-party meeting, reconsider prohibition policy in Bihar: Giriraj Singh

Bihar BJP leaders, including Union minister Giriraj Singh, on Wednesday asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to reconsider prohibition policy in the state, claiming that it has failed with illegal sale of spurious liquor causing frequent deaths and rise in crimes linked to it.

Singh told reporters outside Parliament that Kumar should convene an all-party meeting on the issue and take a decision accordingly. "If a policy is not successful, then it should be reconsidered," he said.

Pataliputra MP and former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav echoed Singh's view and said the chief minister should not make prohibition a matter of personal prestige. "He should either implement it effectively or resign," he added.


Several people have died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in Bihar's Saran district on Tuesday night. While police have put the toll at six, BJP leaders have alleged that it is much higher.

"Every day people in Bihar are dying due to spurious liquor while Kumar remains obstinate about his policy which has failed. Crime is on a rise. Liquor has become like God which may not be visible but is present everywhere in the state," Singh said.

He also slammed the Janata Dal (United) leader as Kumar flew into a rage over BJP members' attack on his government in the state assembly over the deaths allegedly due to spurious liquor, saying this "tasteless" conduct showed his frustration as his hold on power has become more tenuous.

Kumar's declaration that the ruling alliance with fight the next assembly polls in 2025 under RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has caused much heartburn within his own party while the Rashtriya Janata Dal has been pressuring him to pass on the mantle to its leader, the BJP leader said.

Yadav said administrative system in Bihar has "sold out" to liquor mafia with a large section of young population turning to even more dangerous products to get a high.