Patna, Nov 10 (IANS): JD-U Parliamentary Board President Upendra Kushwaha on Thursday admitted that liquor ban is not successful in Bihar, challenging the claim of his party and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who repeatedly said that it is completely successful.

"The liquor ban cannot be successful unless and until people of the state would not want to do the same. Imposing liquor ban on the state cannot make it successful. People of Bihar benefited from the liquor ban. It is up to people to understand the responsibility of a law made by the government," he said at an event at Mahua in Vaishali district.

"There is a connecting chain between consumers and suppliers. We manage to break the chain, the liquor operation in Bihar will stop. People would stop consuming liquor. If people would not wish to, the scheme would not become successful," Kushwaha said.

Kushwaha also admitted that the crime graph has zoomed in Bihar in the last few months.

Following his statement, BJP leaders targeted Nitish Kumar and the JD-U.

BJP OBC Morcha's national General Secretary Nikhil Anand said: "We highly appreciate the truth admitted by highly respectable socialist leader Upendra Kushwaha. I salute him for his statement that liquor is banned in Bihar but the ban is not successful here. He rightly pointed out that liquor ban would not get successful unless and until people would not wish to. At the same time, I also want to say that the implementation of law is in the hands of enforcement agencies and not the people. The law enforcement agencies like police, excise, liquor prohibition units have completely failed in Bihar."