Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Kanam Rajendran’s statements over reviewing state liquor police has got bar owners as well as tipplers hopeful.
Rajendran, while speaking to the media in Thiruvananthapuram press club, said the liquor policy was usually reviewed every year and if LDF come to power the liquor policy will be discussed well before any announcement.
He said that the UDF’s liquor policy has not reduced the rate of liquor consumption as claimed by KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran and Excise Minister K. Babu.
“It had helped only to shift drinking to homes. The impact of the liquor policy on homes, children and women should be studied closely,” he said according to The Hindu.
He further said that his party support liquor abstinence, not prohibition.
In a statement issued later in the day, Rajendran sought to know why the Chief Minister was hesitating to accept Babu’s resignation when he took just two hours to accept former Finance Minister K.M. Mani’s resignation. Babu had claimed that he had resigned on moral grounds. If so, why was the Chief Minister displaying similar moral stance, he asked.