''Cast 1 crore votes to party, get liquor at ₹70'', says Somu Veerraju

|HT|

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Andhra Pradesh unit president Somu Veerraju has promised to bring down the price of liquor in the state if the party gets one crore votes. Assembly elections are due in the state in 2024. “Cast one crore votes to Bharatiya Janata Party and we will provide liquor for just ₹70. If we have more revenue left, then, will provide liquor for just ₹50,” Veerraju said while addressing a rally in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

The BJP is aiming to dislodge the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government, headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, in the next assembly elections. The “Praja Agraha Sabha” (a meeting to express people’s anger) in Vijayawada was organised by Andhra Pradesh BJP where former Union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar urged the people of the state to “put an end to the corrupt and destructive rule of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government” in 2024. He described the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSRCP as family-dominated parties, and said both indulged in massive corruption.

Veeraraju, meanwhile, claimed that the BJP is the only party capable of pulling down the corrupt Jagan government. “We are confident of forming the next government in the state,” he said.

The YSRCP had swept the 2019 assembly polls in the state, winning 151 of the 175 seats. The TDP could only manage to win 23 seats, while the BJP drew a blank.

In 2014, Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP has emerged victorious by winning 102 seats. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party was at number 2, and won 67 seats. Since taking over as chief minister, Jagan has reversed many policy decisions of the previous TDP government. He cancelled several infrastructure projects, took back land allotted to companies and in January 2020, cleared a proposal to have three capitals – Vishakhapatnam (executive), Amaravati (legislative) and Kurnool (judicial).

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)