Accusing the coalition government of Andhra Pradesh of resorting to vendetta politics against him and his party, former CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the ‘liquor scam’, currently under probe, is a sham. The TDP-led government comprise of BJP and Jana Sena Party and is led by N. Chandrababu Naidu.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the AP government has alleged that during the YSRCP rule, between 2019 and 2024, certain local liquor manufacturers were favoured to capture the market and in return, a section of YSRCP leadership and civil servants received kickbacks worth hundreds of crores. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also booked a case on this issue and is looking into it. The SIT has already arrested few people who were part of the YSRCP government in the last term.
In the press meet held on Thursday which extended to two hours, Jagan gave a presentation with data to explain that liquor sale had come down during his governance when compared to the previous TDP government’s rule between 2014 and 2019. The revenue during their term was more because the taxes were high, he added. “Why will the liquor companies bribe us if sales go down and taxes are high,” he reasoned. He alleged that in the current government, belt shops have increased across the state.
He expressed concern that vendetta politics was on the rise and liquor case was one such example. Jagan declared that June 4 would be observed as ‘Betrayal Day’ to “expose the failures of the present government”.
He alleged that uninvolved officials and innocent members of the past government were being harassed and being forced to give out a confession to build cases, which was a diversionary tactic to bury the past case related to Naidu.
Comparing the current situation to the infamous Delhi liquor scam, Jagan noted the contrast in policy. He said that there liquor was shifted from public to private hands whereas he did the exact opposite.
Jagan warned that the current situation is spiraling into an undeclared emergency. Jagan also criticised CM Naidu and said that the current government was going back on poll promises and is not able to deliver either welfare or development and at the same time has taken more debts when compared to their term, citing CAG reports.