Congress protests in assembly against hooch tragedy

October 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance is likely to win the assembly elections in Maharashtra where polling was held Tuesday, according to IBN-Lokmat Times projections. According to these projections, the ruling Congress-NCP alliance will win 135 to 145 seats in the 288-member assembly with the Congress garnering 75-85 seats and the NCP 55-65 seats.

October 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi Thursday expressed grief and concern over the "terrible boat tragedy" in Kerala's Thekkady wildlife sanctuary that claimed 37 lives. "I am deeply distressed to learn of the terrible boat tragedy at the Thekkady wildlife sanctuary that claimed so many innocent lives," Gandhi said in a message issued here.

September 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A man who was allegedly the main supplier of spurious liquor that claimed 26 lives in west and southwest Delhi in March has been arrested, police said Thursday. Sukhbir, 37, was arrested by the Crime Branch Aug 31 and then taken into remand for three days.

August 2nd, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - To probe the alleged nexus between bootleggers and police, the Gujarat government has ordered scrutiny of the service records of the cops allegedly linked to the illicit liquor deaths in the state last month. The scrutiny is being carried out to know if these policemen were earlier posted in any other area in Gujarat where cases against bootleggers had been filed previously.

July 29th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Mock assembly sessions by the Congress legislators to protest illicit liquor deaths in Gujarat have angered Speaker Ashok Bhatt who said the opposition move was an "insult to the house" and "against democratic traditions". Opposition members have alleged that they were not being allowed by the speaker to raise the issue in the house.

July 16th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Renowned danseuse and social activist Mallika Sarabhai took out a march on Thursday along with several locals to voice their ire and protest against the hooch tragedy that claimed around 130 lives in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Sarabhai and family members of victims, who died after consumption of spurious liquor, led a march to the Gujarat state's Assembly to demand strict action against those guilty.

July 15th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - A delegation of Congress legislators led by former deputy chief minister Narhari Amin has submitted a memorandum to Gujarat Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma seeking stern action against those responsible for the hooch tragedy, which claimed 136 lives in Ahmedabad last week. The Congress legislators, who have launched a campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government demanding either Chief Minister Narendra Modi's removal or the President's rule following the tragedy, said in the memorandum Tuesday that the party urges the governor to intervene since the opposition members have not been allowed to raise the issue in the assembly.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Friday adjourned the house till 2 p.m. following the protests by Congress MPs from Gujarat, who raised the issue of the illicit liquor tragedy in Ahmedabad which has claimed at least 136 lives so far.

July 11th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Crime Branch of Ahmedabad police Saturday claimed to have identified the mastermind behind the moonshine tragedy which has so far claimed 136 lives in the city. "We have identified one bootlegger named Vinod Dagri, who is a resident of Mehamdabad (near Ahmedabad), to be the mastermind behind the supply of the killer country liquor.

July 10th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt Friday took serious offence when opposition Congress members arrived in the house wearing black dresses as a mark of protest against the hooch tragedy which has so far claimed 110 lives in Ahmedabad. Expressing his anger over the opposition members' black protest, Bhatt said the act was not in good taste and was against the traditions of the house.

July 8th, 2009 AHMEDABAD/GANDHINAGAR - As many as 43 people have died after drinking illegally brewed liquor in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat police said Thursday, while Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi faced widespread protests. "The death toll in the liquor tragedy now stands at 43," Director General of Police (DGP) S.S.

May 24th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Former Orissa minister Bhupinder Singh was Sunday unanimously elected leader of Congress party in the state assembly, party sources said. He was elected at a meeting of the newly elected Congress legislators in the presence of central cabinet minister and Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and state Congress president K.P.

May 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - With the official toll reaching 20 in West Bengal's hooch tragedy, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the main opposition Trinamool Congress are trying to gain poll mileage by blaming each other for the incident. The deaths occurred in East Midnapore district's Tamluk where people fell ill after consuming poisonous country-made liquor near Ramtarak Market of Mecheda in the Matangini block.

March 29th, 2009 JAMMU - A former National Conference leader who was expelled from the party for alleged indiscipline Sunday joined the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir. The two parties jointly rule the state.

January 4th, 2009 KOLKATA - People should come forward and protest against the consumption of poisonous country-made liquor, West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) chairman Biman Bose said Monday, as the toll in a hooch tragedy here rose to 23. 'This is a social responsibility for all of us to protest and destroy the illicit country-made liquor shops in West Bengal,' Bose told reporters here.