VIJAYAWADA: Taking exception to the comments of YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the new excise policy of the TDP-led NDA government, IT Minister Nara Lokesh said the former chief minister, who made liquor the main source of income, contrary to his election promise of total prohibition in a phased manner, has no moral right to speak on the issue.
In a post on his Twitter (X) handle, Lokesh said, “He (Jagan) said that if the prices go up, the number of people who consume alcohol will decrease and the standard of living will increase. However, sales of liquor increased by 72 per cent due to the newly introduced liquor policy of that government. Scattered sales increased. Average consumption of alcohol increased from 5.55 to 6.23 per cent during 2019-2020. Even though they said that they would increase the prices and reduce the sales of liquor, consumption has increased massively. Is this psycho Jagan, your great liquor policy you say?”
Lokesh further pointed out that selling liquor that was priced at Rs 50 at the revised rate of Rs 250, made people go for country-made liquor and get addicted to ganja.
“This sin of increasing ganja addiction among people is on the head of Jagan,” he observed.
The IT Minister further said in the five years under the YSRC rule, instead of digital payments, only cash payments were encouraged.
“A total of Rs 99,413.50 crore went into their pockets, while only Rs 615 crore was in the form of digital payments. Today, even pushcarts are using online payment, but they (the YSRC government) have done away with digital payments,” he said.
He further alleged that during Jagan’s regime, all the distilleries went into the hands of YSRC MP P Mithun Reddy.
He further said during 2014-19, the price of a bottle of 31 brands of liquor was between Rs 50 and Rs 70. During 2019-24 all those brands were cancelled and only two brands were sold. He said this saw kidney damage increased by 52 per cent and lung damage by 54 per cent due to drinking of J brands.
“We have cancelled your liquor policy which exploited people and introduced a new policy. When tenders were called for 3,736 private retail shops, 90,000 people came. The government got an income of up to Rs 1,800 crore. Allotment of shops was done through a transparent lottery. This is our approach,” he said.