Nellore deaths trigger political slugfest between TDP, YSRCP

Hyderabad Even as condolences poured in from different quarters over the death of eight persons in a stampede-like situation at a political rally at Kandukuru town in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district on Wednesday night, ruling YSR Congress party and opposition Telugu Desam Party indulged in a slugfest over the tragedy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed shock and condolence over the death of eight people and injuries to many others in the stampede. In a tweet, Modi announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh to each of the families of the deceased and a compensation of ₹50,000 for the injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who returned from Delhi in the afternoon, also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and ₹50,000 each to the injured. He instructed the officials to extend necessary support to the victims’ families.

Andhra Pradesh governor Biswabhushan Harichandan also expressed his profound grief over the tragic incident at Kandukuru.

The TDP on Thursday announced that each of the families of the eight victims of Kandukuru stampede incident would be paid ₹24 lakh as ex gratia.

According to a party release, party president N Chandrababu Naidu had already announced ₹15 lakh each to the kin of the deceased families while the local leaders and leaders from other parts of the state are contributing ₹2 lakh, ₹1 lakh and ₹50,000 each. Besides paying the ex gratia, the NTR Trust will fund the education of the children of the deceased, Naidu said.

Meanwhile, Nellore police registered a first information report (FIR) with regard to the Kandukuru stampede incident. A senior police official of Nellore said a case under section 174 of criminal procedure code (suspicious death) was registered at Kandukur police station. “Accused names, if any, would be included in the FIR after investigation,” he said.

Political slugfest

The tragic incident triggered a political slugfest between the YSRC and the TDP. Several YSRC leaders, including ministers blamed it Naidu for the tragedy, saying his craze for publicity claimed lives of eight innocents.

State tourism minister R K Roja said the police should register a case against Naidu making him accused No. 1 in the Kandukuru stampede deaths case, as it was his penchant for publicity that caused the tragedy.

“Naidu deliberately held the rally in a narrow lane in order to show that there were huge crowds for his meeting. Because there was hardly any space for the people to stand, it led to a stampede-like situation,” Roja said.

Sating that the court should take up this case suo motu and order a criminal case against Naidu, she said he should be booked for attempt to murder.

State information and public relations minister Ch Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna said Naidu had lost his mental balance. “His publicity craze took 29 lives during Godavari Pushkaralu in 2014 and now, he took eight lives. He has no vision at all,” he said.

YSRC MLA from Kandukuru Manugunta Maheedhar Reddy said the tragedy took place because of the flex boards erected by the local TDP leaders.

The TDP president, however, said it was the responsibility of the local police to take precautionary measures. “In the past, too, several leaders like N T Rama Rao and L K Advani had conducted road shows. It is the duty of the local police to oversee that there are no untoward incidents. I am not blaming anyone but I feel the Kandukur police should have taken the necessary precautionary measures,” he said.

Stating that the criticism by certain leaders against his meeting at Kandukuru was not correct, Naidu said several meetings of leaders of various political parties were held in the past exactly at the same place where he addressed the meeting on Wednesday.

TDP state unit president K Atchennaidu said there was no need to bother about the allegations being made by the YSRC leaders against Naidu, at a time when the TDP lost its sympathisers in the tragedy.