Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to ban country-made liquor while allowing foreign liquor in the state from next month is like an April fool's joke played on people, BJP ally Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi said on Saturday.
"The day Nitish Kumar announced that there will be prohibition on country-made and spiced liquor in the state from April 1 but sale of Indian-made foreign liquor will continue, I thought he (Kumar) may be subjecting people to April fool (joke)," Manjhi told reporters.
Slamming the decision of the grand secular alliance government on liquor ban, the former Chief Minister of the state, said "This is double standard policy of the government."
Manjhi, a protege turned enemy of Kumar, asked the CM to make an announcement on International Women's Day on March 8 to completely ban liquor be it country-made or any foreign brand citing that "incidents of domestic violence and rape occurs under the influence of liquor."
"If Nitish Kumar announces a complete 'prohibition' in the state on International Women's Day on March 8, I will welcome the decision," Manjhi said.
Claiming that plenty of discrepancies would arise at the implementation stage of liquor ban, the former CM expressed apprehension that country-made liquor might be sold with label of foreign liquor at an exorbitant price, thus ruining the lives of poor people.
