Bihar Congress MLA gets notice for ‘booze video’

The Congress on Tuesday issued a showcause notice to its Narkatiaganj legislator Vinay Verma after he was caught on camera offering alcoholic drinks to his guests. The sting video, which had surfaced on Monday, is likely to embarrass the state government which had imposed a blanket ban on liquor in Bihar.

Clarifying the party’s stand on the issue, Congress state president Ashok Chaudhary said: “Vinay Verma has been asked to submit his reply within a week and the state government will probe the matter.”

Mr Verma denied the allegations, saying that the video which showed him was morphed by his opponents to malign his image. “This is all a conspiracy against me. I don’t drink and am a strict vegetarian. They had called me to a hotel in Patna and were trying to instigate me to speak against the government for banning liquor in Bihar. I had defended the government,” he said.

An FIR has also been lodged against him and his residential premises were raided by the police. According to reports coming from Narkatiaganj, Mr Verma didn’t cooperate with the police when it tried to question him.

In the video, he is seen offering drinks and even naming brands of the alcoholic beverage to his guests, saying “if you want I can make it available to you. I have several brands in my house which I didn’t throw after the ban.”

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that “over half” of the “ministers and legislators” of the ruling Grand Alliance are “habitual boozers”. He asked CM Nitish Kumar to take stringent action against Mr Verma. “It is known to everybody that more than half of legislators and ministers in the ruling Grand Alliance are habitual boozers.”