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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
MN Samdani | TNN

YSR Congress Party terms Kandukur tragedy as cold-blooded murder, blames TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu for mishap

AMARAVATI: YSR Congress Party general secretary and state government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy has alleged that TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu is solely responsible for the death of eight people in the stampede at a public rally held at Kandukur.

He said that Naidu did not even feel ashamed for the grave mistake committed by him. Speaking to the media, Sajjala lashed out at Naidu for playing with the lives of the people for his own publicity.

"Naidu deliberately held the rally in a narrow lane in order to capture the visuals through drone cameras to prove the presence of a huge crowd. This is a well-designed plan to promote Naidu’s image. Shockingly, it led to the killing of eight innocent people," said Sajjala. He wanted to know as to why Naidu and his team did not follow the police instructions in conducting the meeting.

He said that Naidu and the organisers could be booked for their negligence leading to the death of innocents. He said that police granted the TDP to organize the meeting in the NTR circle which has sufficient space to accommodate a reasonable crowd. He said that TDP leaders deliberately moved Naidu’s convoy into a narrow lane where the 100ft road was narrowed down to 30ft by erecting the flexes on both the sides.

He said that they made it so narrow only to pack it during Naidu’s public address to show that a massive crowd is turning up.

"It is a shame that the opposition leader is trying to blame the government even for the tragedy caused by himself. This episode once again exposes that he cares only for the publicity," said Sajjala.

He also found fault with Naidu for describing the death as a sacrifice of the party cadres as no one would come to the meeting to sacrifice their lives. He said that Naidu might have hatched a plan to kill the people to gain sympathy.

Sajjala said that Naidu was also responsible for the death of 29 people during Godavari pushkarams when he kept the crowd waiting as he was busy in attending the film shooting on pushkar ghat.

He said that Naidu, instead of expressing remorse, had observed that a similar stampede took place in Kumbh Melas. "Kandakur tragedy is a cold-blooded murder by Naidu," said Sajjala. He asked, "Why is Naidu trying to pin the blame on the authorities when it is him who is behind these murders? The fact of the matter is that the opposition leader does not value lives. He is using people for his personal and political gains and nothing can be worse than that".

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