The seizure of huge volume of drugs from a container at Visakhapatnam Port, ahead of crucial elections, leading to major political uproar in Andhra Pradesh. The opposition parties, who are critical of YS Jaganmohan Reddy regime that brought disrepute to the state during it’s five year- regime, as the notorious ganja and drugs destination in the country, are now taking it as an opportunity to discredit the government for making the state as `drugs capital of India’.
BJP state vice president and former legislature party leader P Vishnu Kumar Raju alleged that the origins of drugs and ganja seized anywhere in the country are traced in Andhra Pradesh, He said that the presence of ganja in the state has increased manifold and even Class X students are able to access it with ease.
Even as the police claim that the department is considering stringent measures in curbing drugs in the state, in reality, he accused that the situation is quite a contrast as Andhra Pradesh has been witnessing free flow of ganja and drugs for the past five years.
The latest controversy erupted after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized a staggering 25,000 kilograms of drugs from a container at the Visakhapatnam Port. Lamenting the high-profile drug seizure, TDP’s spokesperson, Jyothsna Tirunagari, alleged that the ruling party has close ties with Sandhya Aqua Exports, the Visakhapatnam-based private company linked to the seized drugs.
She accused the YSRCP government of exacerbating the drug menace in the state through administrative mismanagement. Additionally, she took a dig at YSRCP MP V. Vijaysai Reddy alleging his purported “Brazilian connection.”
According to the DPR report, TDP MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar said, “Andhra Pradesh leads in drugs… The state government is involved in all this, that’s why we filed a complaint… In the absence of direct evidence, inference can be taken from circumstantial evidence. Circumstances put together, directly lead to the YSRCP government.”
“The YSRCP government is directly or indirectly involved in the drug mafia… Under the name of dried yeast, it contains six kinds of drugs, and now they have been sent to forensics. The drugs are being utilised in liquor manufactured by the government and private companies under them,” he said.
Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, a member of the Rajya Sabha of Telugu Desam, has expressed his suspicions that these drugs are being used in the preparation of inferior liquor being made in the state. Along with those samples, alcohol samples from AP should also be sent for lab tests and a thorough investigation should be conducted, he demanded.
He recalled the mention in the CBI report on the attitude of the Andhra Pradesh police authorities in the case of 25 thousand kg of suspected drugs seizure. He wondered that how Rs 50,000 crore worth drugs reached to the state from Brazil without the role of the state government,
He alleged that to divert the attention of the central probe agencies on their deep involvement in the drugs deals some ruling party leaders are spreading rumors against TDP leaders possible involvement. He asked how TDP leaders were being accused of having a role in the Visakha drug case, even before the investigation was over. Ravindra Kumar urged the Central Election Commission to focus on the menace of high-profile drugs seizure at Visakhapatnam.
