Om Prakash Rajbhar demanded the total ban of liquor in UP

Om Prakash Rajbhar, cabinet minister and president of the Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj party (SBSP) an ally of the BJP on Sunday demanded the total ban of liquor in Uttar Pradesh.  The minister reminded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his pre-poll promise to implement the “Gujarat model” in Uttar Pradesh. He said on the lines of Bihar, the UP government should ban liquor in the state to open new avenues for development. 

“During the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh for 2014 Lok Sabha elections Prime Minister Modi had promised to implement the Gujarat model in the state. I remind him of his promise and request him to ban liquor in the state to open new avenues for development,” Rajbhar said, addressing a women’s conference organised by SBSP in Ballia on Sunday. The minister had earlier announced to stage dharna in Varanasi on May 16, the Lok Sabha constituency of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The dharna was called off following the tragedy in Varanasi where 20 persons were killed in the collapse of a under construction fly over.

No party had raised the issue of banning liquor in the state, the minister said, and urged the women not to vote for those, who distributed liquor ahead of elections.  He said the poor and the working class are the worst victims of the easy availability of the alcohol. The SBSP, an ally of the BJP, has four MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and party chief Rajbhar is a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

Om Prakash Rajbhar denied reports that he had some differences with the chief minister Yogi Adityanath.  “He is my captain and I follow his directions”, said Rajbhar. On SP, BSP and Congress coming closer to form an alliance, he said, “They used to loot the people separately, now they are planning to do the same unitedly. The people will reject them and make Modi the prime minister again.”