Amaravati, Mar 23 (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday accused the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of trying to destroy source of revenue through sale of liquor across the State and blamed some media houses for being a part of the conspiracy of the TDP.

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Winding up a brief discussion on the issue in the Legislative Assembly, the Chief Minister denied sale of cheap liquor as was stated by the TDP, the main Opposition party.

“There is nothing called cheap liquor. It's only distilled and processed liquor from a licenced distillery that is being sold at a lower price. But the TDP is branding it as cheap stuff and illegally-distilled arrack,” he said.

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The TDP and a section of the media were seeking to create misgivings among women and push them into a state of anxiety.

“They (TDP and media) don't want the government to earn revenue (by selling liquor), so they are resorting to this campaign. Thereby, they want to prevent implementation of welfare programmes,” said Jagan.

In the Assembly, the Chief Minister played video footage of his Sakshi TV wherein the kin of some people, who died under mysterious circumstances in West Godavari district early this month, claimed that some parties and media were making an issue out of natural deaths.

Jagan reiterated that some 20 people in West Godavari district died of natural causes, not because of spurious arrack.

“Illicit arrack is not something that came into existence during our regime. It was there even during the previous government. In the five-year rule of Chandrababu Naidu from 2014, over 1.42 lakh cases were booked for brewing illicit arrack. In three years of our rule, 1.09 lakh cases were registered,” he said.

Hitting out at the TDP, the Chief Minister said seven new liquor distilleries were permitted between 2014 and 2019, and 254 new brands were brought in.

“Some of those distilleries belonged to the TDP leaders and their kin. We did not permit even a single new distillery. It was Chandrababu who promoted liquor in the State,” he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)