Patna, Dec. 16: Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) president Jitan Ram Manjhi today said chief minister Nitish Kumar was intentionally hurting the state by imposing prohibition.

Manjhi said while the state was losing revenue because of the ban, some individuals who were sympathisers of the ruling alliance, were minting money by bootlegging.

He said if Nitish was serious he should impose prohibition with an iron hand and if not then he must withdraw it.

"Nitish is responsible for stealing the revenue of the state, as his people are into bootlegging and their business is thriving now. In the name of prohibition, Nitish has given a platform to the people to steal tax. The ruling party people are involved in it and no action is being taken against them," Manjhi said at his 12-M Strand Road residence.

Manjhi cited a few examples on how the people of the ruling party either JDU or RJD were recently nabbed with liquor and no action were taken against them.

He mentioned the name of JDU leader C.K. Sen alias Moti Singh in Nalanda, who was arrested with 164 bottles and recently a huge consignment of liquor was seized from a village near Hajipur in Vaishali in which RJD worker Anuj Rai's name had surfaced.