Andhra Pradesh Excise Minister K S Jawahar confronted Opposition Leader Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy regarding a story published in Sakshi newspaper on the new excise policy. The newspaper published a story on the new policy with a banner headline in first page where it alleged that the department is planning to plunder 332.8 crore rupees.
It may be noted that Jawahar who was blessed as the Excise minister in the recent cabinet expansion, said that policy will adhere to the Supreme Court guidelines on renewals and added that the it would be implemented from July 1 in the state. He said that 85 new bars will get permission at various places on the basis of the population up to 30,000 people.
Sakshi accused that under the direction of a prominent leader, a minister is collecting 40 lakh rupees from the current bar license holders to renew the license for five years. The state will have soon have 832 bars including the new 85. Based on this Sakshi came up with the figure of 332.8crore rupees.
Condemning these charges, Excise minister challenged that if Jagan is able to prove the charges, he would resign for ministerial position and retire from politics. However, in case Jagan fails to ascertain the allegations within 24hours, the TDP leader asked the opposition leader to leave the state. He called upon the YSRCP chief for face to face discussion regarding the allegations.
