Patna, Dec 14 (IANS): Bihar's Prohibition and Excise Minister Sunil Kumar on Wednesday slammed former Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi for making remarks in support of liquor ban rollback in the state.

Kumar said that Manjhi is making statements on the direction of BJP leaders.

"When we (JD-U) were with the NDA, Jitan Ram Manjhi supported the liquor prohibition act and now, when we came out the alliance, he started making statements against it. He is sitting in the lap of BJP and he makes statements according to the direction he received from the saffron leaders," Kumar said.

"We are going for a widespread survey on liquor prohibition law following direction of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Bihar. The preparation of database is underway and an agency will be hired soon for the survey. The discussion pertaining to the questions to be asked to common people is underway. We will take the views of people and make the policy...," he added.