AMARAVATI: YSR Congress Party MLA RK Roja said that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has hiked the liquor prices as a part of the state government efforts to move towards a complete prohibition of alcohol in a phased manner. The ruling party MLA added that the raise in alcohol price will gradually bring down the sales of liquor in the state.

Roja said the Chief Minister has hiked the prices of liquor, with a view to making it unaffordable for the common man with the objective of weaning alcoholics away from drinking.

She hit back at the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, wondering why they are so upset about the liquor price hike in the state.

“As a first step towards liquor prohibition in the state, the Andhra Pradesh government had earlier reduced the number of bars by 40 per cent besides closing down about 40,000 belt shops and 20 percent of wine shops which were thriving in the state under the previous rule of Chandrababu Naidu,” said Roja.

Speaking about the anti-COVID-19 initiatives, the legislator said that the state government led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is working with an all-encompassing vision in its efforts to combat Coronavirus pandemic in the state. She lashed out at Chandrababu Naidu and his TDP men for trying to play a spoilsport saying, “these leaders, merely sitting in AC rooms, are only interested in spreading falsehood about the government’s effective measures in their desperation to tarnish the image of the YSRCP government.”

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