Seven people died and several others were injured in a stampede at a public meeting of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) at Kandukur, in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, on Wednesday evening, according to the police.
The incident took place soon after TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu arrived to address the meeting, police said.
According to police, thousands of TDP workers and supporters had gathered at the venue, and there was some jostling soon as Naidu arrived to address the massive public meeting. In the melee, some people jumped into a drainage canal nearby to save themselves, but as more people jumped on them to escape what was escalating into a stampede-like situation, at least seven persons died, police said.
Naidu cancelled the meeting and the roadshow and visited the local hospital to express solidarity with families of the victims. He announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia for families of each victim.
Naidu, 72, was holding the public meeting and roadshow in Nellore as part of his programme ‘Idemi Kharma Mana Rashtraniki (Why is our state facing this fate?)” — his campaign in the run-up to the Assembly elections scheduled in 2024.
Encouraged by the success of public meetings he had addressed in November against the YSR Congress (YSRCP) government of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, the TDP chief has chalked out an elaborate programme to address a series of meetings across Andhra Pradesh to highlight what the party says are failures of the Jagan Reddy government. On November 16, addressing a public meeting at Kurnool, Naidu had asserted that the Assembly elections in 2024 would be his last if people did not reelect the TDP.
The TDP coined the slogan “Quit Jagan, Save AP”, and Naidu started off with public meetings in Kurnool and Eluru last month.
At these rallies, Naidu has alleged that the state is “neck-deep in debts”, which according to him amount to Rs 9.5 lakh crore. Naidu’s approach has been different at each of these public meetings, and he has raised issues from price-rise to bad roads across Andhra Pradesh to hit out at the YSRCP government.
On December 9, he held a meeting at Bapatla. He addressed another sizable gathering at Bobbili, in Vizianagaram district of north coastal Andhra Pradesh, on December 23. He also made a quick visit to Khammam in neighbouring Telangana on December 21 and is reportedly looking at reviving the party in that state as well.
