Uma Bharti to relinquish bungalow as part of anti-liquor campaign

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Friday said she will not stay in a house from November 7 to January 14  as part of her campaign against illegal liquor sale in Madhya Pradesh.

 The former Union minister also announced that she wanted to contest the next Lok Sabha election from a state other than Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Her anti-liquor campaign will begin from Amarkantak in MP, she said. “From November 7 to Makar Sankranti on January 14, I will leave the house and stay in a hut or tent in front of a liquor shop or `ahata' in an area where liquor is prohibited and organise a choupal (public meeting),” Bharti said in a series of tweets. 

`Ahata' is a place where liquor is consumed. 

Despite the MP government closing liquor vends and ahatas in response to her campaign, they remained open after getting a stay from the courts and she became a laughing stock, Bharti told reporters. “This is the reason for launching this campaign, so that such things do not recur....and a controlled liquor distribution policy gets implemented in the state,” she said.

Due to her new campaign, officials will remain alert about implementing chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's announcements and not commit mistakes, especially the law department will not give an opportunity to liquor traders to obtain a stay from the courts, she added.

The senior BJP leader, however, praised Chouhan for declaring the anti-liquor movement as a government campaign. MP will become a role model for other states for framing a people-friendly liquor policy, she added.

The state government has announced that a de-addiction campaign will be run from October 2 to November 30.

Responding to a query, she said, “I am thinking why not contest from a third state,” she said, adding that she can win elections from any place. 

(With Agency inputs)