Raghubar's Rollback

The move to return liquor sale to private players has invited jibes from opposition parties and calls for introspection within the BJP.

- Amitabh Srivastava

The state government’s U-turn in handing liquor sale back to private players—20 months after it took over the business—has provoked the opposition to claim that with assembly polls due this year, the move will help the ruling BJP squeeze election funds from liquor syndicates. The Raghubar Das government announced this rollback— evidently driven by revenue losses—last month and will hand over the business to private players in April.