CM Jagan announces ex gratia for victims 

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the three persons who died in a stampede during a TD freebie distribution programme in Guntur on Sunday. Also, Rs 50,000 was announced for the injured.

The Chief Minister expressed shock over the incident and instructed officials to ensure quality medical care to the injured.

Health minister Vidadala Rajni rushed to the government hospital, where the injured were admitted, enquired about the incident and spoke to the families of the victims. She also directed the medical staff to provide all necessary treatment to them.

After the visit, she held TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu responsible for the stampede, saying “he is taking lives of public through his meetings and programmes”, referencing the Kurnool incident, where eight people died in a stampede.

She alleged Naidu is trying to lure the public through gifts and was trying to further his image by getting drone recordings of huge crowds, without considering public safety.

YSRC leaders were quick to jump on the issue, with ministers Jogi Ramesh, Kottu Satyanarayana, Karumuri Nageswara Rao, MLAs Malladi Vishnu, Md Mustafa and others holding Naidu responsible for the deaths.

They alleged that Naidu’s drone mania was costing the innocent their lives and sought the arrest of the TD chief and senior leaders of the party.

Delving into the incident, the YSRC leaders said that the TD failed to make proper arrangements, by undertaking distributions without setting up proper counters. They said that the public must have been seated and the kits distributed in an orderly fashion.