Published 13:47 IST, October 10th 2019
Hardik Patel mocks Gujarat CM Rupani over liquor prohibition spat
Hardik Patel has commented on the war-of-words between Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani over liquor prohibition & has written a letter
After a verbal spat broke out between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani about Gujarat prohibition, NCP leader Shankersinh Vaghela had backed Gehlot and now Hardik Patel has also jumped into the controversy. In a mocking letter written to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Hardik Patel has backed Ashok Gehlot's comments. He's given the subject of letter to be 'sometimes I feel like laughing at you, CM Rupani'.
In the letter, he has claimed that there was nothing wrong with Ashok Gehlot's statements and that Rupani was only 'overreacting'. The letter read, 'alcohol is abundant in Gujarat. Everyone knows this very well. Only last week, a huge amount of liquor was seized from chief minister Rupani's constituency in Rajkot itself'.
Stating some figures, Hardik in the letter wrote that in the last two years, ₹149 crore worth alcohol was seized by authorities in the state. There were 16,033 vehicles smuggling alcohol that were caught, 3,13,642 country liquor was seized, 90,22,408 IMFL bottles were seized. In the letter, he's also said that the largest amount of liquor has been seized from Surat, Vapi, Aravali, Dahod, Banaskatha, Sabarkatha, Junagadh. He also alleged that no leader of any political party wants to talk about it and that crores of rupees are collected by police officials as bribes for this.
Meanwhile, after the controversy broke, BJP Gujarat chief Jitu Vaghani also reacted to the prohibition war of words and said: "people who have these kinds of habits only think that everyone in Gujarat drinks. I condemn what Gehlot, Vaghela have spoken about Gujarat. They should apologize."
Earlier, while in his constituency in Rajkot on Tuesday for a local administration event, Rupani had again brought up Ashok Gehlot's statements against Gujarat prohibition and demanded an apology. He stated, "if Gehlot has the courage, he will come out and apologise for his disrespecting words against crores of Gujaratis and calling them drunkards. I demand him to come out and apologise."
Updated 14:52 IST, October 10th 2019