Jagan is the mastermind, says Manickam Tagore

Vijayawada: All India Congress Committee in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Manickam Tagore has alleged that former Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was the real mastermind of the liquor scam during YSRCP rule in the state.

He alleged that Jagan’s liquor mafia devastated one crore of poor families in the state.

In a post on social media platform X on Sunday, he said that trusted liquor brands were replaced with low-grade, harmful ones for Rs 3,200 crore in bribes.

Reacting to the arrest of YSRCP MP P V Midhun Reddy, Manickam Tagore stated that the MP is just a pawn. He wrote that the real masterminds were “Mr and Mrs Jagan”.

“This wasn’t a scam by accident. It was a well-planned, top-down operation by Jagan’s scientific corruption. Liquor brands were handpicked. The distribution network was fixed. Kickbacks were pre-negotiated. Dummy firms were created. Policy was rewritten to legalise the loot,” he wrote.

According to him, Jagan’s party leaders coordinated with handpicked liquor suppliers, established, trusted liquor brands were removed from shelves, their own lesser-known brands owned by benamis took their place, and these brands were sold at inflated prices via state retail.

The MP alleged that the profit margin was artificially jacked up. “Commissions were routed through fake invoices and service contracts. Shell companies were floated in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Visakhapatnam to launder the money,” he said.

He alleged that even transportation and warehousing contracts were awarded to proxy firms. These were shown as logistics expenses — in reality, they were channels to drain public money, he said. The Congress leader alleged that the ecosystem was created to benefit 3 groups - Mr and Mrs Jagan, few ministers and friendly contractors.

“SIT findings say at least Rs 3,200 crore was diverted between 2020-2024. A portion of this was pumped into the 2024 election campaign. Distributed across constituencies as cash and liquor freebies and used for vote buying and booth management,” he said.

According to him, several of the fake liquor brands had no manufacturing infrastructure. They borrowed licences, operated out of shady bottling units, and paid lakhs per day in bribes to stay in the system. “Midhun Reddy’s name is on record — not just as a participant, but as a chief operator. He helped coordinate between the excise department and political offices. He managed shell companies used to hide the inflow of bribes,” he said.