Leaders of various political parties on Tuesday lashed out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over the Rajahmundry stampede in which 27 people died at the Godavari pushkar ghats.
Speaking to the media, YSR Congress leader and former MLA from Andhra Pradesh Gurunath Reddy described Naidu as directly responsible for the pushkar deaths.
He reminded Naidu that he (Naidu) had the demanded the resignation of then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy when five devotees had died in a stampede in the 2004 pushkaralu, and asked Naidu why he was not responding on the Rajahmundry incident.
He also demanded that Naidu tender his resignation immediately, taking moral responsibility for the Rajahmundry stampede.
Describing the Rajahmundry incident as gloomy, a former Congress MLA from Telangana, Gandra Venkataramana Reddy, alleged that 27 innocent devotees had died due to improper arrangements, and demanded that a criminal case be filed against Chandrababu Naidu.
He asked the governments of both the Telugu states to provide better facilities to the devotees at least now.
Lashing out at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Reddy alleged that the devotees were facing a lot of trouble due to the lack of water in the Godavari river.
"KCR should have gotten the Maharashtra government to release water to the Godavari. But he failed in this regard," he alleged. (NSS)