New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack Union Minister Smriti Irani, alleging that an "illegal bar" is being run in Goa by her daughter.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters that there are serious charges of corruption against Irani's family and her daughter is allegedly running a restaurant in Goa, in which a bar is functioning on a "fake licence".
"The licence by Smriti Irani's daughter is in the name of a person who died in May 2021, and the licence was taken in June 2022 in Goa. But the person in whose name the licence is, had died 13 months ago. This is illegal," he told reporters.
He said according to Goa rules, a restaurant can get only one bar licence but this restaurant has got two bar licences.
"We demand from the Prime Minister that Smriti Irani should be immediately sacked as a minister from the Union cabinet. You owe it to this country, to the youth of this country," he said.
An upmarket restaurant in Assagao, North Goa, run by Union Minister Smriti Irani’s daughter, Zoish, has hit the headlines for the controversial manner in which it acquired the renewal of a liquor licence in the name of a person long deceased.
On 21 July, Goa’s excise commissioner, Narayan M. Gad, issued a show cause notice to Silly Souls Cafe and Bar run by Zoish Irani based on a complaint filed by lawyer Aires Rodrigues, who said that “fraudulent and fabricated documents were produced” to acquire the liquor licence.
A hearing in the matter has been fixed for July 29.
However, the lawyer of Smriti Irani's daughter, Kirat Nagra, said his client is neither an owner nor operating the restaurant called Silly Souls Goa and has not received any show cause notice from any Authority whatsoever as alleged.
