Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday expressed shock over the death of nearly 100 people in the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand hooch tragedy, and blamed the BJP governments in the two states for allowing illicit liquor industry to flourish.
According to latest figures released by officials on Sunday, the death toll in the tragedy has increased to 97 and over 200 people have been arrested so far in a police crackdown.
"I am shocked and very sad to know that more than 100 people have been killed in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and the death toll continues to rise," Priyanka Gandhi said in a statement.
"It is hard to believe that the illicit liquor industry in the two states is operating without the support of the respective state governments.
"I hope that the BJP governments will take strict action against the criminals and appropriate compensation and provision of government jobs will be made for the families of the deceased," added Gandhi, who recently took over as the AICC General Secretary in charge of east Uttar Pradesh.
All the deceased had gone to Balupur village in Uttarakhand's Roorkie for an after-death ritual where they were apparently served spurious liquor.
Meanwhile, the incident took a political turn on Sunday with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recalling the hands of Samajwadi Party in "such mischievous acts" and BSP chief Mayawati seeking a CBI probe into the matter.
Adityanath, from his home turf Gorakhpur, warned of stern action against all those found involved in illicit liquor trade even if they were associated with any political party.
"In the past too, such type of mischievous acts by SP leaders had come to fore. In Azamgarh, Hardoi, Kanpur and Barabanki, SP leaders were found to be involved in past hooch tragedies. We can't deny conspiracy this time too," Yogi told reporters Saturday night.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Sunday over the deaths in the tragedy.
He said, "The opposition has been notifying the government about such activities, but they did not act as some of its leaders are involved. The truth is that without the backing of the government, such businesses cannot be carried out. The BJP should accept the fact that they cannot run the state."
(With IANS inputs)
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