Patna, April 23: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today slammed his Jharkhand counterpart Raghubar Das for the treatment accorded to his letter seeking help to implement prohibition better.

Nitish had written to Raghubar, requesting him to step up vigil in the bordering areas of his state. Raghubar wrote back saying he had forwarded the letter to his excise department for appropriate action. A livid Nitish today said this was not how one should reply to a fellow chief minister's letter.

At the JDU national council meeting at SK Memorial Hall, Nitish said prohibition had been effectively implemented in Bihar and he had sought help from neighbouring states to implement it better.

"I wrote to my counterparts requesting them to step up vigil against smugglers in the bordering areas, but got a bizarre reply from my Jharkhand counterpart," Nitish said.

"The Jharkhand chief minister wrote back saying 'I have received your letter, which has been forwarded to the excise department for appropriate action'. Is this how a chief minister responds to another chief minister on an issue that affects women and the larger population?

Nitish further said: "It appears that BJP leaders are still under the spell of intoxication. I will march to Jharkhand to begin my campaign against liquor consumption outside Bihar from there.

SK Memorial Hall was packed with delegates from around the country who had come to hear Nitish.

The Jharkhand chief minister, who was busy through the day monitoring preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jamshedpur tomorrow, was scathing when told about Nitish's criticism. Without touching on prohibition, he said: " Jinhone rajya mein 10 saal se bhrashtrachaar, jaatiwaad, ghamand aadi ka nasha apnaya, wo humse sawal puchte hain aaj (Someone who has been drunk on corruption, casteism, arrogance and other ills in his state for the past 10 years is asking me questions today)."

Ever since total prohibition was declared in Bihar on April 5, the state has steadfastly cracked down on liquor drinkers and operators.

Nitish has been continuously raising his voice against sale of liquor in the bordering areas of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Nepal.

As things stands now, Jharkhand has no plans to implement prohibition, though women from rural areas in districts such as Lohardaga, Ranchi and Khunti in the state have made intermittent demands to ban sale of country liquor there.

Nitish mentioned that women in Jharkhand were raising their voice against sale of liquor.

"I salute all those states, like Tamil Nadu, that are now mulling a liquor ban."

People are protesting against sale of liquor in every corner," Nitish said.

"People ask me how much revenue I lost. I tell them it is Rs 5,000 crore but I am not bothered about it. So many things have changed since prohibition. Domestic violence and rash driving have stopped. These days even wedding ceremonies pass off peacefully." Nitish said he would launch a division-wise campaign from Monday to monitor effective implementation of prohibition.

The other states he would visit to campaign against the sale and consumption of liquor include Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bengal.

"I have heard that the Uttar Pradesh government has increased liquor sales target and is opening new shops in bordering areas. Does the UP government want to increase revenue from sale of liquor alone? I will ask them what made them increase the number of liquor shops in areas bordering Bihar." Nitish will visit Uttar Pradesh on May 15.

G M Ramalingam, a member of the JDU's national council from Karnataka, had brought a poster showing Nitish in Narshima avatar, with his face in place of that of the deity.