YSR Congress is in neck-deep trouble in the Liquor Scam.
The SIT recovered 11 crores of cash stashed in a farmhouse in Hyderabad. The cash is the illegal proceeds of this scam and allegedly stashed at the instructions of Raj Kasireddy, who is one of the masterminds of this scam.
The scam is worth 3500 Crore, and many believe that it is a matter of time before YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is arrested in this case.
YSR Congress leaders are coming up with a strange defense in this case.
They say they did not bring any new brands, and all the brands got licenses during Chandrababu’s regime.
They also say the liquor sale was done completely by the Government during their regime. Once there is no private involvement, there is no chance of a scam since the money goes to the treasury.
Both these arguments are true, but they do not help in saying there is no scam.
Forget liquor for a while, take a chocolate.
You have all brands allowed. There are local chocolates, the chocolates of big companies, and the imported ones.
The supply in the market is as per demand.
Even though the local chocolates have a license, they have limited availability due to the demand.
The manufacturers may even lower the quality to maximize their returns.
It is true, many of these liquor brands got a license during 2014-19.
But the modus operandi is as such. The Jagan Government stopped the popular brands by not clearing their dues and encouraging these smaller brands in the name of discouraging people from drinking.
Once the popular brands are not available, the demand for these lesser-known brands increases.
It is no secret that only ‘Pichhi Brands’ are available in those five years. Everybody agrees that the liquor ruined the health of the consumers. Even YSR Congress leaders say it played a crucial role in their electoral loss.
The Government places more orders for these brands, and in return, those in power get kickbacks.
The Kickbacks are for creating artificial demand for these less-popular brands.
So, once these companies give kickbacks, their margins decrease, and the quality deteriorates.
They may have got a license during Chandrababu’s regime, but the quality is not up to the approved standards between 2019 and 2024.
It is also true that the liquor business during Jagan’s regime was handled by the Government.
Primarily, the scam did not happen in Retail Shops. The Scam happened at the Manufacturer level.
Also, there are no digital payments in retail shops run by the Government, and so, there is no footprint.
So, there may be additional stock dumped into the shops out of the radar. So, there is a chance that liquor is sold, but they are not in the records, and so, a massive tax evasion to the Government. This is the second leg of the scam.
So, both the arguments of YSR Congress are feeble in this scam.
