The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will shut down liquor units run by its workers in Tamil Nadu if the party comes to power after the 2016 Assembly elections, said senior leader Kanimozhi on Monday.

Responding to Communist Party of India leader R Nallakkannu's charge that many workers of the DMK, which has promised to enforce a ban on the sale of alcohol in Tamil Nadu if voted to power, are running liquor units, Kanimozhi told reporters that “those running these units have assured that they will not sell or supply liquor to other states”.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has also promised that she will introduce phased prohibition on liquor in the state if re-elected to power.

Prohibition has a long and tumultuous history in Tamil Nadu, with several political leaders having backed it at one time or another. Alcohol was first banned here in 1937, and the proscription has been imposed several times since. Support for prohibition has been growing again since 2015, especially after a Gandhian activist, Sasiperumal, died while demanding the closure of a liquor shop in Kanyakumari district.