Nitish Kumar, Fuming, Shouted “You’re A Drunk” At BJP MLAs


Opposition MLAs later protested against Nitish Kumar’s “sharabi” comment.

Patna:

Nitish Kumar flew into a rage and screamed “sharabi ho tum (you are drunk)” at the opposition BJP today as he faced protests in the Bihar assembly over liquor deaths in the state that has been dry since 2016.

Seventeen people have died at Chhapra in Saran district after allegedly drinking fake liquor and more deaths are feared.

“What happened? Keep quiet. Get them out of the house,” Nitish Kumar was heard in a video, shouting over slogan-shouting and protests by BJP MLAs.

Sharabi ho gaye ho tum…(you are drunk),” he raged.

The Bihar Chief Minister was furious apparently at BJP MLAs who held up posters attacking his government and demanding his public apology at the entrance of the assembly building.

Opposition MLAs later protested against Mr Kumar’s “sharabi” comment.

The police have called the deaths “suspicious” and are yet to establish the cause.

“Three people died, their bodies have been sent for a postmortem. These look like suspicious deaths. I have also received information that some more are being treated at different places,” said senior police officer S Kumar said.

In August, in a case in the same district, five people died after drinking spurious liquor.

The police are reportedly looking for more who have been taken sick; they may have gone into hiding to avoid interrogation as liquor has been banned in Bihar since April 2016.