During the investigation, the ACB Officials found that the majority of the liquor licences in the state are in the name of white card holders, who comes under the below-poverty line. Politicians have used the poor people as their benamis to get the grip on the liquor trade. It may be recalled that Botsa has written a letter to CM Kiran Kumar Reddy demanding the cancellation of the ration cards of the people who are having liquor licences, after his name surfaced during the ACB raids on liquor syndicates all over the state. However, this move by the PCC Chief backfired as TDP alleged that Congress leaders were trying to make the below-poverty line people scapegoats by cancelling their ration cards.
Botsa is well aware of the fact that government is not in a position to cancel the liquor licenses as it will affect the revenue. So, he played this card to mount pressure on CM Kiran and also to counter the allegations from his rivals. In fact, within two months all the liquor trade licences are going to expire. So, even if the government dares to cancel the licenses the loss for Botsa will be minimal.
