Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said deaths due to illicit liquor in Bihar are "painful". Bihar's "opportunistic double-engine government" is responsible for taking lives of "hundreds of people", he added. Noting that CM Nitish Kumar said in 2017 that liquor won't be sold in Bihar as long as he's alive, Kharge asked, "Why is...illegal trade of illicit liquor still going on?"