Kurnool, Oct 26 (IANS) YSR Congress Party leader and former MLA S.V. Mohan Reddy held the coalition government directly responsible for the Kurnool bus tragedy, calling it a “government-made massacre” caused by the illegal sale of spurious liquor.

He demanded Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu apologise to the victims’ families, pay Rs 1 crore compensation to each, and register a criminal case against Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra for his alleged role in enabling belt shops and the fake liquor trade.

Mohan Reddy, who is the president of YSRCP’s Kurnool district unit, said the police investigation revealed that the biker involved in the accident had consumed spurious liquor purchased from a belt shop at Lakshmipuram, and that his intoxicated driving triggered the bus inferno which killed 20 innocent passengers.

“If liquor wasn’t sold illegally that night, those 20 lives would not have been lost. These are not accidents, these are murders committed by this government’s greed,” he said in a statement.

He criticised the government for turning Andhra Pradesh into ‘Madhyandra Pradesh’, where liquor flows freely day and night. “Belt shops are operating like festivals with colourful lights, while women fear walking past them. The state once known as Annapurna has been reduced to a liquor hub under Chandrababu’s rule,” he said.

Mohan Reddy stated that TDP leaders themselves are behind fake liquor manufacturing, citing units exposed in Mulakalacheruvu, Ibrahimpatnam, Repalle, Anakapalli, Nellore and Eluru. “Even after thousands of fake liquor bottles were seized, no shops were sealed, no culprits arrested, because the government itself is the supplier,” he charged.

He noted that one in every four liquor bottles sold in the state is fake, with the TDP leadership looting over Rs 5,000 crore through this racket. “If the government cannot pay compensation from its budget, it should pay from that illegal loot,” he said.

Recalling past tragedies, Mohan Reddy said, “From the Godavari Pushkar stampede to the Kandukur public meeting deaths, Chandrababu Naidu’s negligence has cost lives before. Now, 20 more have died because of his liquor policy.”

“This is not fate, it’s the result of corruption and criminal negligence. The government must take responsibility, apologize publicly, and pay Rs 1 crore to each bereaved family,” Mohan Reddy added.

–IANS

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