For the last couple of days, there have been serious allegations that the Telugu Desam Party leaders, and in some areas, Jana Sena and BJP leaders, have been resorting to mafia-type activities to gain control over the liquor shops.
Though the Chandrababu Naidu government has claimed to have allotted shops to the dealers through a lottery system in a transparent manner, there are reports that the TDP, Jana Sena and BJP leaders are threatening the lottery winners to drop out from the retail liquor business or pay them 20-30 percent commission every month.
If such reports are carried by Sakshi or any other media house closer to the YSR Congress party, one can give the NDA leaders some benefit of doubt.
But even a pro-TDP media house like Eenadu on Tuesday carried a huge story on how these leaders have turned into a syndicate and are indulging in mafia type of activities in the liquor trade.
For instance, there was a report that some TDP leaders in Sri Satya Sai district had kidnapped a liquor dealer Ranganath, who was allotted a shop at Lepakshi in the lottery conducted on Tuesday.
These TDP leaders called up Ranganath’s wife and told her that he was kidnapped for filing the application for liquor shop despite their objection.
They said they would not harm him, if he gave up the liquor shop in their favour. In return, they offered a goodwill amount of Rs 10 lakh, besides Rs 10,000 every month.
There have been similar reports from several other places, where the TDP and Jana Sena Party leaders are threatening the liquor dealers who were allotted shops in the lottery to transfer the licence in their favour by taking certain amount as goodwill.
Alternatively, they are demanding 20 percent of the turnover as commission, or even a share in the business.
“If you want to run the business in our constituency, you have to pay us the commission or hand over the licence to our people,” they are telling the dealers.
According to Eenadu, reports of such most of these syndicates and mafia activities by the ruling party leaders are coming from Palnadu, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool, Anantapur, Vijayawada, Guntur, Sri Satya Sai and YSR Kadapa districts.
Of course, Eenadu has reported that Naidu has taken serious note of such reports. But the chief minister is well aware that he cannot contain such mafia, as he has failed in the case of sand mafia as well!
