AP Liquor Deaths: TDP MLAs Take Out Rally Against CM's Comments

Andhra Pradesh's TDP MLAs and MLCs took out a protest rally to the Assembly today, demanding that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy withdraw his "baseless" comments on the deaths of Jangareddygudem's 26 illicit liquor victims.

The TDP legislators accused the Jagan government of hatching a conspiracy to make all the 26 illicit liquor fatalities look like natural deaths.

Led by TDP National General Secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh, the opposition legislators holding placards raised slogans against the Chief Minister's "indifferent attitude" towards the lives of the common people.

They advised the Chief Minister and his colleagues to come for a fair debate in the House instead of continuing their false campaigns without any concern for the victims' families, and vowed that the TDP would continue its agitation till the Chief Minister give up his "adamant" attitude on holding a debate in the legislative bodies.

The TDP legislators termed it as condemnable that Jagan was spreading total lies that the Jangareddygudem victims died due to ill-health and natural causes when the victims' wives were asserting that the deaths were caused only after the victims started drinking illicit liquor.

How could the government say that there was no illicit liquor in Jangareddygudem when people of the village were openly talking about how illicit liquor had become abundantly available everywhere in the past three years, they sought to know.

The TDP legislators also asked why the YSRCP was afraid of ordering a judicial inquiry into the arrack deaths.

"The government should give Rs 25 lakh to the family of each of Jangareddygudem's illicit liquor tragedy victims," they demanded.

Those who took part in the rally included TDP MLCs P Ashok Babu, G Deepak Reddy and Manthena Satyanarayana Raju, MLAs Anagani Satya Prasad, Yeluri Sambasiva Rao and Velagapudi Ramakrishna, and others.