Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran on Saturday ruled out the “scope for a review of the liquor policy of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government.”
“As it is, there is no scope for reviewing the policy,” he said in reply to questions from journalists at a press conference here on Saturday. “This policy is not something the UDF had drawn up in a hurry within a day or a week, but something that has evolved over a long time,” he said.
He said that the UDF governments, right from the time of K. Karunakaran as Chief Minister, were guided by the policy that alcohol consumption should be brought down in the State.
It was consistent with this policy that arrack ban was imposed in the State when A.K. Antony was the Chief Minister and the number of liquor outlets was curtailed by the Oommen Chandy government.
The term “practicability” should mean “that which would be of practical good to the people at large,” he said, replying to a question about a statement Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had made the other day in the Assembly that the government would look at the liquor policy in the light of practicability and also the court verdicts.
He said decisions on policy matters were the prerogative of elected governments. When courts issued verdicts against any policy of the government, it was up to the government to hold fast to the policy it had taken after much contemplation and continue efforts to convince the court about the soundness of the policy. Mr. Sudheeran said the State government was doing this.
