JOIN USHours after the Supreme Court asked the Maharashtra government to implement its verdict on dance bars, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP on Thursday accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of entering into a deal with hoteliers to reopen dance bars.
“There is deal, we have suspected and now it is confirmed,” former labour minister and chief spokesperson of Maharashtra NCP, Nawab Malik told in a news conference. “After the earlier order of the Supreme Court, the hoteliers and bar owners met Fadnavis through (Ashish) Shelar (Mumbai BJP president) and here the deal was struck,” Malik said. He, however, did not go into the specifics of the deal.
“Abki bar, dance bar....this is what they want....since the BJP-Shiv Sena government came to power, they have been favouring nightlife in Mumbai....they have not pursued the case properly in the Supreme Court,” he said. In 2005, the dance bars were banned by the then Congress-NCP Democratic Front government and both the Houses of Maharashtra legislature had favoured it. The then home minister, the late R R Patil, played a key role in banning the dance bars. The RR Patil Foundation has decided to hold protests and to intervene in the Supreme Court.
Malik said the NCP would back the organisation. “Ultimately, it is the youth who are going to be affected and we need to ensure that dance bars remain closed,” he said.
On the decision of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar to ban liquor from April 1 next year, he said his party welcomes the move.