Blame game on after Uttarakhand-UP hooch tragedy

LUCKNOW: Days after the hooch tragedy that claimed 94 lives and led to the arrest of more than 175 people, a political blame began on Sunday with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleging that the role of Samajwadi Party (SP) in “such mischievous acts” cannot be ruled out.

“In the past too, such type of mischievous acts by SP leaders had come to fore. In Azamgarh, Hardoi, Kanpur and Barabanki, SP leaders were found to be involved in past hooch tragedies. We can’t deny conspiracy this time too,” Yogi said. Adityanath, from his home turf Gorakhpur, warned of stern action against those involved in illicit liquor trade.

BSP chief Mayawati, meanwhile, said that both the state governments were “callous” in their approach towards banning sale of spurious liquor and demanded a CBI probe into the tragedy. Mayawati said bootleggers who are running a parallel administration right under the nose of the authorities and selling spurious liquor.

Slamming the BJP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “The opposition has been notifying the government about such activities, but they did not act as some of its leaders are involved. The truth is that without the backing of the government, such businesses cannot be carried out. The BJP should accept the fact that they cannot run the state.”  

Adityanath said he had spoken to his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat and asked him to share details as the spurious liquor was served to the natives of Uttar Pradesh in a Haridwar village.