Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has blamed Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu for the death of eight people at a roadshow organised by his party at Kandukur in Nellore district of the state on Wednesday. He said Chandrababu Naidu's "publicity mania" caused the tragedy, and demanded an immediate and public apology from him.
Chandrababu Naidu had expressed grief over the death of his party workers. "This is a sad incident. I'm feeling very sorry about it," he said. TDP has also announced that it will pay Rs 24 lakh each to the families of the eight who died in the stampede.
However, Jagan Reddy remained unconvinced, and launched an all out attack on Mr Naidu.
"Babu killed eight people for his political benefits, it is so heinous and shameful. For the sake of a photo shoot, for a drone shot, even though there were few people, they pushed people into a narrow lane in order to show big numbers. They used their vehicle like a barricade and killed eight people... will there be anything worse than this?'' he said at a public meeting in Narsipatnam.
Mr Reddy said the TDP chief, who is also a former Chief Minister of the state, has done this before as well.
"During Godavari Pushkaralu in 2015, he became the reason for the death of 29 people. This is not new for him. He only cares about his publicity," Jagan Reddy said.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister then bitterly criticised him for "deception" and "stabbing people in the back".
He also slammed Mr Naidu for taking out another roadshow in Kavali town "without any repentance", just a day after the deaths.
"Instead of taking moral responsibility for the death of 8 innocents, the TDP chief instead pinned the blame on the public," Mr Reddy said, adding that Chandrababu Naidu "lectured people to be self-disciplined while visiting public rallies".
The Chief Minister also expressed outrage at Mr Naidu mentioning the castes of those who died, "for petty political gains".
Politics is not shooting, or dialogues, or drone shots, or drama. Politics means what change we are able to bring in the families of farmers and socially marginalised groups, he said.
"To transform governance, to transform our healthcare system, and reach the people, is politics," he added.
The police have registered a case in connection to the stampede incident, saying the public meeting had created a lot of 'deviations', which obstructed the police and led to such an incident.
"The heavy speakers, huge hoardings and the bike rallies created a lot of deviations and played a major role in obstructing the police. This led to the incident. The Kandukuru Town Police have registered a case under section 174 of the CRPC," they said.
"The incident took place in Sivalayam street of Kandukuru town. The rally was given permission in the main streets, but it moved into the tiny roads as well. A DSP rank officer will be appointed to investigate the case," Vijaya Rao, Nellore Superintendent of Police, said.
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