The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Hooch tragedy triggers political blame game

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hooch tragedy triggers political blame game

Bangalore Bureau

The mud-slinging continues even as the death toll in the tragedy crosses 50

BANGALORE: All the three major political parties in the State on Monday tried to use the hooch tragedy as a political weapon in the elections by blaming one another for the tragedy.

The mud-slinging and the political blame game continued even as the death toll in the tragedy crossed 50.

Blame game

The Congress blamed the decision of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party government to ban arrack as the main reason for the tragedy, as it had forced the poor to resort to drinking illicit liquor.

The poor could not afford branded liquor, which was costlier than arrack, said Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary. He alleged that the liquor lobby had paid thousands of crores to the top leaders of the Janata Dal (S)-BJP coalition to ban arrack.

Will the Janata Dal (S) National President H.D. Deve Gowda and former Chief Ministers H.D. Kumaraswamy and B.S. Yeddyurappa, who have been taking credit for banning arrack, own up the responsibility for the death of innocent people in the hooch tragedy, he asked. While the poor paid with their lives, the profits of liquor manufacturers including the multi-national companies had increased over the last one year, he alleged.

Asked whether the Congress, if it came to power, would withdraw the ban, Mr. Poojary said that, personally, he was for prohibition, but a government which had a strong political will should do it.

Other camps

The BJP, on the other hand, blamed the Congress for the tragedy. BJP spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar said that the tragedy was a result of Congress leader Janardhana Poojary’s recent poll assurance that his party would consider withdrawing the arrack ban if it was voted to power. Pointing out that such a tragedy had struck during the President’s Rule in the State, he blamed the Governor and the Congress, the party in power at the Centre as responsible for the tragedy.Janata Dal (S) leader and former minister H.D. Revanna demanded a CBI probe into the tragedy.

Intelligence failure

He blamed the failure of police intelligence, excise intelligence and the Joint Commissioner of Excise for the tragedy. He demanded that criminal cases should be filed against the officials who were responsible for the tragedy.

Mr. Revanna said that police intelligence was preoccupied with the ways and means of helping the Congress to return to power.

He alleged that some excise officials had supplied nearly two lakh cases of liquor to the Congress and the BJP before the issuing of notification of elections.

He charged Governor Rameshwar Thakur with failure to prevent such tragedies. He made it clear that his party was not for withdrawal of the arrack ban if it came to power.

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