Patna, Jan 22 (PTI) In a blistering attack on the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, its strident detractor Chirag Paswan on Saturday equated hooch deaths in the state with "murder" and renewed the demand for President"s rule. Paswan also alleged that the chief minister went after "whoever dared to show him the mirror", a reason why the knives are out in his JD(U) for BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal after the latter pointed out shortcomings in the prohibition law. "The spurt in hooch death cases across Bihar is proof that sale and manufacture of spurious liquor are rampant in the state," he said. The Jamui MP heads a splinter group of the LJP founded by his late father Ram Vilas Paswan. "Barely a week ago I had visited Nalanda, the home district of the chief minister, where so many people had died and wails of bereaved women presented such a distressing sight. And now we have another episode in Chapra in Saran," he said. At least five people have died in Saran district in what appears to be yet another case of suspected hooch tragedy in the dry state, officials said on Friday. The incident came less than a week after 11 people died in Nalanda after consuming spurious liquor. "Can the chief minister assure that henceforth no such unfortunate incident will take place? If not, then it means the perpetrators enjoy his patronage and the deaths can be equated with murder," said Paswan who remains in news for his vitriolic attacks on the CM and his own isolation in the very party he once headed notwithstanding. "It is for this very reason that I say Bihar does not need a chief minister like him and clamping of President"s rule is the only way out," he said. Paswan had made the demand in a letter to Governor Phagu Chauhan earlier this week. Last year, around Deepawali, hooch had claimed more than 40 lives in West Champaran, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts. Paswan also questioned why "not a single bootlegger" has been nabbed in the state where, in the name of enforcement of prohibition, many excesses have been committed by the police. Sale and consumption of alcohol were completely banned in Bihar in April, 2016. The former chief of undivided LJP, who has predicted the fall of the government on account of discord within the NDA, was also asked about the JD(U) leaders" relentless attacks on Jaiswal. "This is Nitish Kumar’s character. He considers whoever shows him the mirror his personal enemy. It was the case with me. So is it with Sanjay Jaiswal", he said. A former loyalist of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who seems to have been left in the lurch by the BJP, Paswan was asked about some JD(U) leaders" charge that he was "laalten ka chirag" - an allusion that he was being surreptitiously backed by the opposition RJD. "I am the Chirag of late Ram Vilas Paswan" was the curt reply of the young leader. PTI NAC BDC BDC