Amaravati: The YSR Congress Party leaders on Saturday accused the Opposition of misleading the public for political gains, by falsely propagating liquor sales to defame the government, although the current government didn't make any changes to liquor manufacturing policy or provided any fresh permits.

Addressing a press conference at the party central office, MLA K Parthasarathy slammed Chandrababu Naidu for misleading people with his cheap politics and asserted that the government had not given permits for any new distilleries or breweries since 2019. He stated that all the alleged J-brands were given permits during the Chandrababu Naidu term in 2018, including the President Medal, Governor Reserve, Napoleon, Seventh Heaven, and yet the Opposition was carrying on Goebbel propaganda tarnishing the State’s image.

He said that no other government had given such a large number of permits like TDP, where the liquor mafia has to facilitate Chandrababu Naidu for giving permission to a beer brand on May 14, 2019, as an interim Chief Minister before stepping down. He said that most of the distilleries belong to TDP leaders Ayyannapatrudu, SPY Reddy, Adikesavula Naidu and stated TDP has no moral right to talk about liquor because they extensively promoted and set up wine shops all over the state.

The MLA said that the current government is committed to prohibition and so brought down the number of liquor shops to 2,934 and closed all the permit rooms, belt shops and has been implementing stringent policies to tackle this menace. Through the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) in the last two years between May 2020 to March 2022, a total of 92,766 cases were booked and 69,178 people arrested, besides seizing 12,40,635 liters of spurious liquor. It was shameful for Naidu to falsely accuse the government of alcohol menace, while it was their minister who had promoted beer as a health drink, he added.