Jagan Drops A Ratnam From Nava Ratnalu

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced phase-wise Liquor Prohibition by the next elections. It is one of the nine promises Jagan made before the elections as Nava Ratnalu. He made the first step in the initial days of coming to power.

The State Government claims to have decreased the number of Liquor shops by 33% and also increased the prices so as to dissuade the people from drinking. But the state is dependent on Liquor income to fill its coffers. And now, Jagan Government may never implement the prohibition.

The Government recently took a loan from a consortium of banks with income from the excise government as collateral. Banks which are skeptical about lending money to Andhra Pradesh have agreed only to trust income for Liquor for obvious reasons.

It is a simple logic that the Government can impose prohibition until the loan is cleared which is not possible. If Jagan tries to impose Prohibition, that will have legal implications. So, one Ratnam of Nava Ratnalu is mostly dropped.