‘Oommen Chandy govt closing bars is WhatsApp story, everything was turned into beer parlours’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Oommen Chandy government closing bars in Kerala is just a story in WhatsApp University, said former excise minister M B Rajesh. Rajesh also said that it is sad that the chief minister has stooped to the level of repeating such false claims spread by cyber warriors in the House.

‘748 bar hotels were operating during Oommen Chandy's tenure. When changes came in the abkari policy, all but 29 bar licenses that had five-star classification were cancelled. The change in the abkari policy was the result of a political clash with V M Sudheeran following the bar bribery allegations. That was something Oommen Chandy did to defeat Sudheeran and to escape from the bar bribery,' said Rajesh at the press meet.

Rajesh alleged that Oommen Chandy had granted a large number of bar licenses from 2011 to 2014 and that they were cancelled only in 2015 when corruption was found in granting it. He also said that beer and wine parlours were granted to all the hotels that had lost their bar licenses. When Oommen Chandy government left power, 813 beer and wine parlours and 306 Bevco outlets were actively operating in Kerala.

'When the bars that were converted into beer and wine parlours during Oommen Chandy's time achieved three-star classification, the LDF government only renewed the licenses when coming to power. This was a legal obligation and it was not that new bars were given in droves. Ten years ago, there were 813 liquor shops and now only 896. The propaganda being carried to mislead the people, saying that it was closed then and opened now, is contrary to the facts,’ he said.