india

Updated: Oct 10, 2019 18:34 IST

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot responded with more attacks on Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani over alleged ineffective implementation of prohibition in Gujarat after Rupani had asked the former to apologise for allegedly calling Gujaratis, drunkard.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Gehlot questioned why Gujarat CM had not sought cooperation of bordering states for preventing liquor-smuggling into Rupani’s state.

“CM Rupani ji knows very well and most people in #Gujarat know that liquor is smuggled into Gujarat from neighboring states. He should have coordinated with govts of MP, Maharashtra, Haryana & Rajasthan to check this,” Gehlot wrote in his first tweet.

In his second tweet, Gehlot cited the example of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to suggest what Rupani should have done to check alleged illicit liquor sale in Gujarat.

“#Gujarat CM should have requested neighboring states to devise an effective joint plan so that smuggling of liquor stops, as Punjab CM has been doing regarding smuggling of drugs into Punjab” said Gehlot’s second tweet.

He went on to state that the Gujarat government or its Chief Minister Rupani had “never spoken” about it and “never sought cooperation” from the neighboring states to strictly enforce the ban on liquor in Gujarat.

The war of words between the two CMs had begun on Sunday when Gehlot claimed that despite the prohibition, alcohol was freely available in Gujarat and he had himself witnessed it during the 2017 Assembly polls in the state. Gehlot added that despite the ban “liquor consumption is maximum” in the state.

Rupani called this an “insult to 6.5 crore Gujaratis” and sought an apology from the Rajasthan CM the next day.

“If Gehlot has the courage, he will come out and apologise for his disrespecting words against crores of Gujaratis and for calling them drunkards. I demand him to come out and apologise,” Rupani said.

However, Gehlot found support from former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). “There is not a single km in Gujarat where you can’t find liquor,” Vaghela said.

The Gujarat state Congress came out with data about liquor seized in Gujarat in 2018-19. “Why is the Chief Minister mum about this?” the release signed by GPCC spokesperson Manish Doshi asked.