Pinarayi Vijayan will face same consequences as Arvind Kejriwal; Delhi model bar bribery taking place in Kerala, says K Surendran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP state president K Surendran said that a Delhi model bar bribery is taking place in Kerala. He alleged that all of this is happening with the knowledge of the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He also said that it’s better for the Chief Minister to resign before he faces the same consequences as Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal. He further stated that it is clear that the bar owners are deciding the policies of the government.

“The Bar Owners Association leader’s voice message where he states the crores of money need to be paid to the government as a bribe will further distort the face of this government. The government that came to power promising to close liquor shops has only opened all the closed bars. Now, it is planning to carry out major corruption by taking away Dry Days and increasing the timings of bars. This decision will drown Kerala in alcohol. It is clear that Congress and CPM have come forward to protect their own interests by supporting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was in jail,” Surendran said. He also said that there would be a strong popular resistance against the bar bribery as it would destroy the social life of Kerala.

However, while the bar bribery controversy is heating up, Excise Minister MB Rajesh has come out to mock the opposition. Rajesh came up mocking the opposition after K Sudhakaran and VD Satheesan demanded the resignation of the Excise Minister.

MB Rajesh's words
This is not the UDF government. It was the UDF government that gave benefits and concessions to bars. It is the Pinarayi Vijayan government that increased the license fees by 5 lakhs. No other Kerala government has ever taken such a drastic step in history. During the UDF government’s reign, was there ever a penalty for the irregularities of the bar owners? It is the first Pinarayi government that started fining bar owners for irregularities.

The second Pinarayi government increased the fines by a lot as well. In the last 6 months, cases were registered against 52 bars. The license of 30 of those bars has been suspended as well. I don’t know if an inspection has been held in the bar of the person who put out the voice message. The government is taking strict measures. Its discomfort can also be seen in this.

Is the increase of the license fee by 5 lakhs the concession we gave them? The news has been coming in the news for the last one month. If you are blindly believing that, strict measures will be taken. The government has also not held any discussion about the liquor policy yet.