YSRCP flays TDP for legalising belt shops

Hyderabad, Condemning the TDP government for its move to increase the number of liquor shops to generate more revenue, YSR Congress has demanded that the State should reverse the proposal of giving license to new liquor outlets.

“While N Chandrababu Naidu went to town after town campaigning that he would close down all the belt shops, the latest proposal to give permission to open three additional units to each liquor shop shows his dichotomy and we demand that the State reverse its proposal,” party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma told reporters here on Tuesday.

In the name of strengthening the liquor shops under Haryana model, the TDP government is trying to give permission to three additional outlets to each of the existing liquor shops to fill its coffers which is not in good spirit and will affect the poor and middle class families, she said.

The state has about 4,600 liquor shops and under the proposal, the number will increase to 13,800 which in a sense is legalizing belt shops in the name of getting extra revenue to the State. “We deplore this act of the TDP government and demand that it drops the proposal of opening more liquor outlets,” she said.

When asked about the status of Konathala Ramakrishna in view of the reports appearing in media, she said: “As far as my knowledge goes he is still with our Party and differences, if any, would be sorted at the Party forum.'