AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap alleges own govt’s complicity in liquor trade

Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on Thursday fired a salvo at his own party’s government, alleging that people involved in the illicit liquor trade had become “a part of the regime and running the show”.

“The mafia-police nexus has a free run under this government. They (liquor mafia) have been made a part of the government and now running the show,” said the Amritsar (North) MLA, who is a former IPS officer.

The criticism of the government by its own party legislator has come in the wake of the Amritsar spurious liquor tragedy, which has claimed 27 lives till now.

The Aam Aadmi Party legislator also termed as “eyewash” the suspension of lower-rung officers over the tragedy and sought action against DIG-level officers, accusing them of “patronising” the criminals even during their tenures as district police chiefs.

“Be it illicit liquor or sand trade, criminals continue to prosper,” the AAP legislator told reporters at Bhangali village after meeting relatives of some of the victims. Kunwar Vijay Pratap also dared Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to “walk the talk”.

He said during the previous Congress regime, Mann had demanded that a “murder case be registered” against then Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh after 120 people died in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Batala in a similar tragedy in 2020. “Live up to your own words now,” he said, adding that 20 people had died in Mann’s home district Sangrur after consuming spurious liquor in March 2024.

Kunwar Vijay Pratap said the issue required a serious discussion, for which he would urge the Punjab Speaker to hold a special session of the Assembly so that the problem’s root cause could be identified.