Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has demanded to know how the government would permit sale of beer and wine in the 418 bars that had been found to be substandard and were shut down for that reason.
In a statement here on Tuesday, Mr. Achuthanandan also wanted to know why Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was not taking action against Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) director Vinson M. Paul if, as Mr. Chandy claimed, Finance Minister K.M. Mani was innocent of the charge that he had accepted Rs. 1 crore as bribe from bar owners.
In the FIR filed by the VACB, Mr. Mani was the first accused. Everybody knew that the Vigilance would not be able to go ahead with the probe if Mr. Mani remained in office. That was why the Opposition had sought his removal from the Cabinet, he added.
The Opposition leader said everybody knew that the government had changed the liquor policy only to blunt the Bar Owners’ Association vice president Biju Ramesh’s charge that two Congress Ministers also had accepted bribe from them and to cut KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran to size. Although the 418 bars are now being given only beer and wine licence, they would shortly be permitted to operate as bars selling hard liquor.
The Chief Minister’s argument that the decision to dilute the liquor policy was taken as 10 bar workers had committed suicide was meaningless as the government had done nothing despite 19 retired KSRTC employees committing suicide following non-payment of pension.
Mr. Chandy’s claims about having settled the Adivasi stir and provided relief to rubber growers also meant little as the Adivasis were made to stand before the Secretariat for five-and-a-half months and the concessions offered to the rubber growers was far from sufficient, Mr. Achuthanandan said.
