MP Midhun Reddy's arrest a political conspiracy, says Jagan

Amaravati, July 20 (IANS) Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday strongly condemned the arrest of party MP P.V. Midhun Reddy in the alleged liquor scam case and termed it a political conspiracy designed to silence those who stand with the people.

Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that Midhun Reddy, who has been elected as a Member of Parliament for three consecutive terms, has been falsely implicated through forced confessions. This is a targeted act of political vendetta by the TDP Government to cover up its own scams and failures, the YSRCP president said in a statement posted on the social media platform ‘X’.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday arrested Midhun Reddy after questioning him for seven hours in Vijayawada. A court on Sunday sent him to judicial custody till August 1.

The former Chief Minister stated that the alleged liquor scam is nothing but a manufactured narrative, created purely for media theatrics and to divert attention from real issues. He said the entire case is built on statements extracted under pressure, threats, third-degree torture, and also through bribes and inducements.

“The fact that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu himself is on bail concerning a case on issues about liquor policy during 2014 - 19 itself, is irrefutable evidence as to why he is stooping so low. The fact that he wants to nullify his case for acts during 2014-19 and also justify his policy now for 2024- 29, he is finding fault with the policy formulated by the YSRCP Government,” wrote Jagan Mohan Reddy.

“What is more alarming is that, while falsely accusing YSRCP leaders of a liquor scam, the current TDP-led coalition is reviving the very corrupt liquor practices that the YSRCP government had dismantled. The belt shops and illegal liquor outlets named permit rooms have returned. While undoing the YSRCP government's successful deeds of shutting down thousands of such belt shops and permit rooms and also reducing the liquor outlets significantly, the present government is now encouraging permit rooms, belt shops, backdoor liquor sales beyond MRP and weakening regulatory enforcement,” the former CM alleged.

“Corruption and Mafia have crept back into the process of awarding wine shop licenses, and thereby placement of orders to the distilleries, undoing the transparent Government shops system we put in place in 2019,” he added.

The YSRCP leader alleged that Chandrababu Naidu is misusing state agencies and the yellow media to settle political scores. Ironically, Naidu himself is currently out on bail in multiple serious corruption cases, including a liquor scam that occurred during his own tenure from 2014 to 2019. During that time, private liquor syndicates thrived, and corruption was institutionalised.

After coming to power, Naidu stalled investigations into those serious corruption cases against him and his close associates. To divert attention and escape accountability, he has conspired to fabricate a politically motivated liquor case targeting YSRCP leaders, he said.

“The TDP's real agenda is now clear. They want to use the SIT to arrest YSRCP leaders under the guise of an investigation and drag the legal process to keep them in jail indefinitely. But once the actual trial begins, the truth will emerge. This is a baseless, politically motivated case totally devoid of legal merit,” said Jagan Mohan Reddy.

“YSRCP leaders are being arrested not because they are guilty, but because the party remains deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This is not a legal process. It is a political witch-hunt aimed at destabilising a strong opposition. Every time such conspiracies have been hatched to suppress the YSRCP, we have fought back with courage. We rose by standing with the people and giving them a voice. That is how the YSRCP earned its place today, by confronting injustice head-on,” the former CM said.

“The abuse of power by the TDP, as described above, is nothing short of a crime perpetrated against Democracy. I commit to the people that, regardless of how overwhelming the odds can be, the YSRCP will continue to stand with the people, remain their voice and their shield, now and always,” he added.

--IANS

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