AP: Botcha to erase liquor trade taint?

HYDERABAD: Two months before liquor trade licences are to expire, PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana is learnt to have decided to counter the charges that he is involved in liquor syndicate operations. He is all set to meet chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and request him to cancel the liquor trade licences owned by white ration card holders in the state.Earlier, Satyanarayana had written to the chief minister demanding cancellation of the ration cards of those who held liquor licences. The move attracted criticism from the TDP which said ration card holders were being made scapegoats by the Congress leaders. This seems to have forced the PCC chief to change strategy.The idea seems to be putting pressure on the government which anyway is not in a position to cancel the licences in view of the huge financial loss it involves at a time when the state’s finances are in a very bad shape. Botcha can then claim innocence while putting the chief minister under pressure.Sources said Satyanarayana felt anyway it was better to cancel the liquor licences as the Anti-Corruption Bureau had termed the liquor trade as an organised crime.Further, the PCC president is learnt to have decided to release a list soon of the shops held by Congress, TDP and YSR Congress leaders to counter the opposition allegations that the Congress leaders hold the  majority of liquor shops in the state.