Congress corners Gujarat govt over graft, liquor

After the suspension of three Congress leaders on Wednesday, opposition party members on Thursday grilled the ruling party with tough questions in the House. Topics raised by five Congress leaders included corruption in the BJP, illegal liquor dens in the state, terrorism, Patel agitation and anti-Dalit atrocities.

“Citizens of this state witnessed a time in which officials from police constables to IPS officers to home minister were arrested,” said Congress MLA Dr CJ Chavda, from Gandhinagar. “Your leader spoke about arresting Dawood Ibrahim, but your police is satisfied with the arrest of Hardik Patel. There is more liquor in Gujarat than water in Narmada dam.”

Senior legislator from Una, Punja Vansh, said: “When PM Modi and Amit Shah were in Gujarat, terrorists were frequently nabbed here. Did the terrorists stop visiting after they left? There is a nexus between your officials and anti-social elements.”

Radhanpur MLA Alpesh Thakor raised the issue of exploitation of lower-ranked police officials by their seniors. Dhoraji legislator Lalit Vasoya attacked the BJP about the Patel agitation, while Dasada MLA Naushad Solanki spoke about anti-Dalit atrocities.

MoS (Home) Pradipsinh Jadeja countered the questions with a blitzkrieg of allegations. “The Congress always took the shelter of casteism and appeasement politics, but we never accepted such lowly tactics,” he said. “I won by a margin of more than 60,000 votes in Patel-dominated areas, and so have our other members.”