Amaravati, May 22 (IANS) YSR Congress Party president Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday termed the alleged liquor scam case registered by the government as a sham and alleged that charges have been fabricated to nullify and weaken the liquor case in which Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is on bail.

Addressing a news conference, the former chief minister slammed the TDP-led government for harassing officials and political opponents in the so-called liquor scam case.

The YSRCP leader said that Chandrababu Naidu has framed the same charges which he (Naidu) is facing in the liquor case related to irregularities during his earlier term (2014-2019).

Referring to statements and confessions being recorded by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), he asked what value do they have while YSRCP has documentary evidence on the liquor scam case in which Chandrababu Naidu is on bail and has been violating every norm of the bail.

The arrest of small-time employees and individuals who were not concerned with the Beverages Corporation only shows that the government wants to weaken and nullify the case registered against Chandrababu Naidu, said Jagan, while referring to the case registered during the YSRCP rule.

The TDP-led NDA government constituted the SIT in November last year to investigate the allegations of irregularities and corruption in Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL) under the YSRCP rule between 2019 and 2024.

The former chief minister stated that the “statements of Vasudev Reddy, the former Managing Director (MD) of APSBCL, who is desperate to go back to his home department or the rogue MP (Vijayasai Reddy) who vacated the seat to benefit the coalition, will not cut any ice”.

The YSRCP chief said that “Raj Kasireddy did not yield to the government pressure, which is why his name was included in the case”.

He said the coalition government has failed to respond to the challenge thrown by YSRCP MP Mithun Reddy to show evidence of his presence in the meeting relating to liquor sales.

“The Delhi liquor scam case is all about the government there shifting liquor deals from the public sector to the private sector, and what we did was just the opposite,” Jagan said.

He alleged that Chandrababu Naidu, during his earlier term, encouraged private players. “Chandrababu Naidu’s fraud has been to rig the tenders for allocating liquor shops and increasing the commission after the allotment without prior approval of the cabinet. He has framed the same charges he has been facing in the liquor case and is trying to nullify his case by arresting people like Dhanunjay Reddy, Krishnamohan Reddy, and Balaji Govindappa,” he said.

The YSRCP leader alleged that CM Chandrababu Naidu is still committing irregularities. “While the liquor trade was done in a transparent manner in our time, never-before-seen brands are in circulation now and are sold at a higher price than the MRP and are available at all times. Chandrababu is the real scamster who rigged the lottery to favour his own syndicate of private mafia and gave 69 per cent of orders to only five of his favoured distilleries, increased the capacity and waived privilege fees causing a loss to the exchequer Rs 5 crore and his involvement is on paper which makes the case strong,” said the former chief minister.

Alleging that the coalition government has failed to fulfil poll promises, Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that June 4 will be observed as ‘Betrayal Day’ to expose the government’s failures.

–IANS

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