THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The UDF liquor policy, which seemed to have gone out of contention in the Assembly polls, has come back to haunt the front with the decision of the Chandy cabinet to grant bar licences to six more five-star hotels.
Earlier, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had challenged the vacillating LDF to reveal its liquor policy. The debate ended with CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury declaring that the LDF would not modify the liquor policy. But the new decision has caught even the Congress men off-guard. KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran said the liquor policy would be implemented flawlessly.
Mr Chandy defended the licences saying they were issued as part of the liquor policy. CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier said that banning liquor completely was not practical and that the LDF wanted abstinence. Much to the surprise of the LDF, Mr Chandy granted bar licences to six more hotels-- Ramada Alleppey in Alappuzha, Crown Plaza at Maradu in Ernakulam, Diana Heights and Saj Earth Resorts at Nedumbassery, Joys Palace Hotel in Thrissur and Vythiri Village Resort in Wayanad.
Mr Sudheeran said in Kochi that all the aspects of the latest controversy would be examined. “The aim of the government is to execute the liquor policy in a flawless manner,” he said. The licences were given after the Supreme Court upheld the liquor policy of the UDF government. Mr Chandy said in Malappuram that he was ready to make amendments in the liquor policy so as to make it flawless.
However, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said in Thrissur that the government’s liquor policy was to grant bar licence to five-star hotels. “It will be discussed at the UDF meeting on Wednesday. Hotel owners will get licence even if they approach the court as per the prevailing liquor policy. Nobody will be allowed to add water in the liquor policy,” said Mr Chennithala.
