Gujarat minister snubs Mallya over prohibition remarks

July 28th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat assembly Tuesday passed the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) bill, which had been returned three times by the central government. The GUJCOC bill was passed with only a minor amendment, of adding the word "terrorism" instead of "organised crime" throughout the bill as the Gujarat government does not have a single law exclusively to deal with terrorist activities.

July 28th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat assembly Tuesday unanimously passed the Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment Act) 2009 bill that proposes death sentence or life imprisonment for those found guilty of manufacturing and selling illicit liquor in case of death of those who consume the brew in the state. The new bill follows the death of 136 people after consuming illicit brew in Ahmedabad since July 5.

July 16th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government was compelled to introduce amendments in the prohibition law, providing for death penalty to bootleggers, as the the president's assent to the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) bill has been delayed, a senior official said here Thursday. The state cabinet Wednesday approved amendments in the Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Act, proposing death sentence or life term for those who manufacture and sell the killer brew - which claimed 136 lives in Ahmedabad last week.

July 11th, 2009 MUMBAI/GANDHINAGAR - Citing the latest moonshine tragedy in Gujarat, liquor baron Vijay Mallya Saturday blamed the state's prohibition policy for the loss of 136 lives. But the Narendra Modi-led government tersely told him: Mind your own business.

April 30th, 2009 Ahmedabad, April 30 IANS Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi cast his ballot at 9 a.m. at a polling station in Ranip, under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, here Thursday.

April 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD - Even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani aims to become prime minister, many in the party see Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the next holder of the top post.

April 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Saturday demanded that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi apologise to the elderly and to all women for terming the party a 125-year-old 'budhiya' (aged woman) and saying it was a burden on the country. 'Modi should apologise to women, in fact men and women, and to the elderly for his remarks.

April 1st, 2009 DAHOD - The Gujarat police have intensified patrolling on a highway bordering Madhya Pradesh following reports of a number of make-shift country liquor vends coming up in the neighbouring state. The police suspect that before the polls, a lot of liquor is being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat, a state under prohibition.

March 27th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat High Court Friday rejected state minister Maya Kodnani's anticipatory bail application. Kodnani is accused of leading mobs in the Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaam localities in 2002 in which 106 people were killed during the Gujarat riots.

March 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who acquired Mahatma Gandhi's memorabilia at an auction in New York with a $1.8 million bid, Friday said he had not been contacted by Indian officials on this and would gift the items to the government. 'I am looking forward to seeing what I bought - and hope it will be sooner rather than later,' Mallya told CNN-IBN from France, hours after his representative clinched the deal at the auction by Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York.

March 4th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tuesday said it will field candidates in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. 'Gujarat is an important state for the BSP high command.

February 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday rebuffed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for saying Pakistan-based terrorists could not have attacked Mumbai without support from within India, prompting Modi to claim he was misquoted.

February 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A war of words broke out Wednesday between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hours after Home Minister P. Chidambaram snubbed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that Mumbai could not have been attacked by Pakistan-based terrorists without support from within India.

February 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A war of words broke out Wednesday between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hours after Home Minister P. Chidambaram snubbed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that Mumbai could not have been attacked by Pakistan-based terrorists without support from within India.

January 11th, 2009 SRINAGAR - India's liquor baron Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director of the UB Group, said here Monday his Kingfisher Airlines would announce attractive tour packages to boost Kashmir tourism in 2009. 'I am excited at Omar Abdullah becoming the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.