BJP to take out 'rath yatra' in Tripura ahead of assembly polls
Agartala, Dec 26: The ruling BJP in Tripura will organise a 'rath yatra' across the state from the first of January, as the saffron party gears up for the assembly polls due early next year, a party leader said on Monday.
A three-member committee headed by Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury has been constituted to oversee preparations for the yatra, he said.
Election to the 60-member Tripura Assembly is due to be held in February.
"One yatra will set out from North Tripura district while another from South Tripura district," BJP media in-charge Sunit Sarkar said.
The party's chief spokesperson, Subarta Chakraborty, said the objective of the yatra is to seek the blessings of people in the run-up to the polls.
"We do believe that people will join the rath yatra' to show solidarity towards the party that has addressed their basic needs," he said.
For the first time, a political party will organise such a yatra in the northeastern state ahead of an election, party sources claimed.
During the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had conducted several road shows, with a number of Union ministers leading those.
Meanwhile, the saffron party's mega outreach programme - Prati Ghare Shushan' - concluded on Sunday.
BJP national general secretary B L Sontosh, who is in the poll-bound state, held the party's election management committee meeting on Sunday evening to review its preparedness for the assembly election.
Senior party leaders attended the meeting, the sources added.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
