CHENNAI:DMK principal secretary K Duraimurugan on Wednesday asked whether PMK founder S Ramadoss is the sole guardian of prohibition policy after Mahatma Gandhi and accused the PMK chief of treating the anti-liquor plank as his patta land into which no one should enter.
“Ramadoss is thinking of capturing power by clinging on to the prohibition policy. He is living in fantasy dreaming of his son Anbumani affixing the first signature as Chief Minister for clamping down prohibition. The statement of Ramadoss shows his grudge as Kalaignar has shattered all his dreams in one second”, Duraimurugan said in a statement here.
The senior DMK leader said “Ramadoss is of the view that he is the pioneer of prohibition policy and thinks that it is his ancestral property. He is furious with our leader as if Kalaignar has entered into his patta land”.
With leaders of many parties and social activists as well as women welcoming the move, Ramadoss alone felt bitter and was seething with anger, he claimed.
Karunanidhi had explained the severe financial crisis faced by the State government when he lifted prohibition in 1971 and clamped it again in 1974. However, AIADMK founder MGR had lifted it in 1981 and issued licences to produce IMFL liquor to private players, he said.
After the DMK was elected to power in 2006, it closed 1300 bars and 128 retail liquor shops near churches, temples, schools, colleges and mosques, besides reducing the counter sale by one hour, he added.
Reacting to the announcement of Karunanidhi to ‘take intense steps for prohibition’, Ramadoss had lashed out the DMK leader, accusing him of introducing liquor to a generation which did not know its smell.