Spurious liquor biggest scam in the country, says YSR Congress leader

Visakhapatnam, Oct 10 (IANS) YSR Congress Party’s women’s wing president and MLC Varudu Kalyani has termed spurious liquor as the biggest scam in the country.

Launching a scathing attack on the TDP-led coalition government, he alleged that it is drowning Andhra Pradesh into spurious liquor.

She told media persons here that everything under Chandrababu Naidu’s rule had turned adulterated – drinking water, medicines in hospitals, children’s meals, and most dangerously, liquor.

“During Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure, Andhra Pradesh was known as Vidya Andhra and Vaidya Andhra. But under N. Chandrababu Naidu, it has been reduced to Madhya (liquor) Andhra Pradesh. Today, one in every three liquor bottles sold is spurious. TDP leaders have converted spurious liquor brewing into a cottage industry,” she stated.

Terming it as the biggest scam in the country, she cited the Mulakalacheruvu bust where 17,000 liters of spurious liquor worth Rs. 1.75 crore were seized.

She alleged that TDP leaders, constituency in-charges, and their relatives of running factories near Vijayawada and Eluru, with the racket even stretching to Visakhapatnam. “Excise officials themselves confirmed TDP’s involvement, yet the government punished a woman CI who exposed it, instead of prosecuting the culprits,” she said.

She demanded a CBI probe, reminding that YSRCP MP Mithun Reddy had already written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. She also flayed Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan for his silence despite his past criticism of liquor.

Meanwhile, YSRCP leader and former Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) accused Chandrababu Naidu and his party of hypocrisy, double standards, and shielding hardened criminals.

Nani said that blinded by greed, the TDP father–son duo had committed countless wrongs, while the Excise Department itself was shocked by the scale of fake liquor manufacturing.

Licensed distilleries, he noted, are now facing illegal competition from units like Mulakalacheruvu, while earlier seizures in Amalapuram, Parawada of Anakapalli, and Nellore reveal the racket’s spread.

Popular brands are being counterfeited, with franchises caught in Eluru, Repalle, and Amalapuram all linked to the Mulakalacheruvu hub, from where liquor was pushed to Ibrahimpatnam. The racket, he said, came to light only due to internal quarrels among TDP leaders over profit sharing.

He questioned why ministers from districts where fake liquor was seized have remained silent, why the Prohibition and Excise Minister has not reacted, and why Lokesh, who posts endlessly on Twitter, is now quiet. Even Chandrababu, who rushes to microphones for trivial issues, has not spoken.

--IANS

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