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Andhra Pradesh Home Minister V. Anitha has reiterated that the NDA government is committed to curbing the menace of drugs and ganja in the Statem besides focussing on spreading awareness about the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act among the youth. Blaming the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government (2019-24) for the proliferation of such illegal businesses, Ms. Anitha says that it is evident from the alleged involvement of a few its leaders in them. Addressing the media at the TDP office, near Mangalagiri, on Thursday, Ms. Anitha said a YSRCP student wing leader from Visakhapatnam district was caught by the EAGLE team for allegedly running a drug racket that targeted engineering students. “Is YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy unaware of it,” she wondered, and alleged that the former Chief Minister was holding public meetings with the party leaders who were turning students into drug addicts under the guise of student unions. A close associate of Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was complicit in the illegal drugs business, but he was not suspended from the YSRCP, she alleged. “During the YSRCP term, wherever ganja was seized in the country, their origins were traced to Andhra Pradesh,” Ms. Anitha observed. In sharp contrast to the YSRCP Government’s “gross negligence” in dealing with the drugs and ganja businesses, the TDP-led coalition government constituted a sub-committee comprising six Ministers and set up the Elite Anti-Narcotics Group for Law Enforcement (EAGLE) to firmly deal with the racketeers. “Parents should be wary of the anti-social elements that lure their children into vicious traps,” the Home Minister cautioned.
