Will introduce liquor ban in phases: Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa launched her election campaign on Saturday with a preemptive ploy against the opposition's call for prohibition, promising to impose a complete ban on liquor in a phased manner.

Addressing her first election rally for the ongoing poll season at Island Grounds, she said it would not be possible to introduce prohibition in one ago, but added that the working hours of Tasmac outlets (TN governmentcontrolled alcohol vends) and number of shops will be reduced, before bars are shut down and rehabilitation centres opened for alcoholics.

"It is my policy to introduce total prohibition, but it cannot be done with a single signature,“ she said in an apparent reference to PMK member Anbumani Ramadoss's promise that his first signature, if he is made the chief minister, would be to bring prohibition. Acknowledging the power of the prohibition slogan, especially among women who bear the brunt of alcoholism, Jayalalithaa spent a good part of her 70-minute speech on the subject as mobile LED screens took the message live across all the constituencies in the Tamil Nadu capital.

While Kerala has imposed partial prohibition and Bihar in full, the AIADMK government has been able to withstand pressure from activists and parties in TN, where liquor sales earned Rs 26,188 crore -one-third of the state's revenue -last fiscal. On Saturday , she took the fight to the enemy . “It is bizarre that (DMK chief) Karunanidhi, who introduced liquor to a generation in 1971, is talking about prohibition. Isn't this like the satan preaching gospel?

Anyone can speak about prohibition, but not Karunanidhi and his DMK,“ she said, recalling how the DMK chief ignored Congress functionary Rajaji's pleas to lift prohibition in 1971.

Jayalalithaa said her first signature after she took over as CM in 1991 was to get rid of arrack shops, despite losing a revenue of Rs400 crore. On allegations of the government's poor handling of the December flood, Jayalalithaa said it was brought by the heaviest rain in more than a century , and that her government took proactive steps. “There was no disease out break after the flood. That is my biggest achievement,“ she added.