Representative image showing alcohol bottles stored in a liquor shop.
Credit: iStock Photo
Patna: Prashant Kishor's newly-floated political party Jan Suraaj on Sunday reiterated that if voted to power, the first decision it would take would be to end liquor prohibition in Bihar. “The decision to enforce Prohibition in April 2016 by Nitish Kumar Government was an economic blunder which has caused the State exchequer loss of Rs 28,000 crore annually,” said the national president of the Jan Suraaj, Uday Singh, former MP.
Incidentally, Uday Singh is brother of NK Singh who earlier served as a bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry before becoming a JD (U) Rajya Sabha member.
“We reiterate that prohibition would be lifted immediately after we are voted to power. The revenue loss of Rs 28,000 crore would then be retrieved and used in an optimum manner in the field of providing quality education to all. Prohibition has led to corruption and liquor is available to all those who want to buy it at a premium price. So, the move has drained the state exchequer and fuelled corruption,” said Singh, who is also likely to release the second list of Jan Suraaj candidates on Monday.
The party had earlier released the first list of 51 candidates in which PK did not figure and the suspense over his contesting polls lingers on.
FIR against PK
Meanwhile, an FIR was lodged against PK for violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) wherein he was charged with addressing more press conferences than permitted and did not follow the election regulations at Raghopur in Vaishali district.
PK appeared unfazed with the lodging of the FIR. “So many cases have been lodged against me. One more such case is most welcome,” he quipped.
PK was in Raghopur where he is touring Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav’s constituency and holding talks with the local unit of Jan Suraaj about who should be the best candidate to take Tejashwi head-on.