Kerala alcohol ban: UDF decides not to cancel beer parlour licences

Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF meeting on Thursday decided not to cancel the licences of the existing beer and wine parlours, opening the ground  for a fresh row in the Congress -UDF forums.

The rift between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and PCC chief V. M. Sudheeran on the new bar policy shows no sign of abating.

While Mr Sudheeran maintained at the KPCC executive meeting that a decision had already been taken in the previous UDF meeting not to grant new licences to beer and wine parlours, Mr Chandy told   the UDF meeting that no decision had been taken so far as it required more discussion. 

This comes at a time  when Mr Sudheeran has been maintaining that there are  no differences of opinion in the party over the decision to  implement liquor ban in a phased manner.

Mr Chandy lamented  the lack of unity among the allies as  KC (M) chairman K. M. Mani and RSP leader Shibu Baby John have been talking  against the decision to go ahead with the liquor ban.

Mr Chandy said  it was unfortunate that the allies were bickering about the liquor policy giving a wrong impression to the people. 

UDF convener P. P. Thankachan said the allies were changing their stand frequently giving rise to more  confusion.

Mr Sudheeran  told reporters after the KPCC executive meeting that the government would not back out of the liquor policy and even congratulated the government on taking bold steps to implement liquor ban.

“The UDF had earlier decided not to give sanction for new beer and wine parlours and a decision on the existing ones will be taken in the next phase. We will request the government to convene an all-party meeting to hold more discussions on it. Already the Opposition has welcomed the decision and the Congress will take into consideration the different views of other party leaders as well. The order of the Supreme Court is not a setback for the government”, said Mr Sudheeran.

Meeting, the UDF meeting on Thursday witnessed heated discussions on the government’s liquor policy with Chief Minister  Oommen Chandy criticising PCC chief V.M. Sudheeran for his views on the beer and wine parlour licences and the allies for making statements against the new policy.

UDF convener P. P. Thankachan expressed surprise over RSP leader and Labour Minister Shibu Baby John’s silence at the meeting  although he had been criticising the move for  liquor ban at public meetings.

Earlier at the KPCC executive meeting held at Indira Bhavan, ‘A’ group leaders and MLAs Benny Behanan and K. Sivadasan Nair and KPCC vice-president M. M. Hassan criticised Mr Sudheeran.  

Mr Behanan said that except Congress president Sonia Gandhi, other central leaders were not forthcoming on the liquor policy.

He also said no KPCC leader could effectively counter the  tall claims being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Sivadasan Nair lamented that the UDF could not maintain its image after the Lok Sabha elections due to the liquor controversies.  

Malappuram DCC president E. Mohammed Kunju said Mr  Sudheeran’s ‘Janapaksha Yatra’ which will be flagged off from Manjeshawaram on November 4 should have been held after March 2015 in time for the  panchayat elections.