Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Monday reiterated his demand for Excise Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan’s resignation irrespective of the State government’s decision to cancel the licence for three breweries and a distillery.
Reacting to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s announcement in this regard, Mr. Chennithala, while addressing a press conference here, said the decision was a tacit confession to the corruption, nepotism and irregularities in the sanction of the liquor units in a secret manner.
Thanking the media for highlighting the allegations, Mr. Chennithala maintained that the related files for the liquor units were detained at the Excise Minister’s office in order to fix a deal. No government in the last 19 years had shown the guts to change the 1999 order imposing a bar on liquor manufacturing units in the manner the Pinarayi Government had done. The Chief Minister had announced the cancellation of the new units in view of the possibilities of more evidence cropping up.
Mr. Chennithala made a fresh allegation that the LDF government had proposed to open beer pubs on the lines that existed in Bengaluru. Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh had visited Bengaluru to study the functioning of the pubs. There was also a move to give licence to restaurants to run beer pubs, he alleged and challenged the Excise Minister to publish the report submitted by the Commissioner.
The UDF welcomed the cancellation move, but it would go ahead with its agitations seeking the Excise Minister’s resignation, besides seeking legal action against him. He said he had met the Governor in this matter since it was his right to point out the relevant provisions in the newly amended anti-corruption laws that vested powers in him to give sanction for prosecution without the advice of the Cabinet.