Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday visited the injured undergoing treatment in a hospital here following a stampede that left six people dead. Six devotees died and nearly 40 more were injured in the stampede at Bairagi Patteda near MGM School in Tirupati on Wednesday night as hundreds of them jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple on Tirumala Hills.

Hundreds of devotees turned up from across the country for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam commencing from January 10. Earlier, Naidu visited the accident site where the stampede claimed six lives and injured many.

Accompanied by several ministers, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials and others, the CM inspected the makeshift arrangements made to handle the multitudes of crowds arriving for the pilgrimage.

At the stampede site, Naidu demanded answers from TTD joint executive officer (health & education) M Gowthami over the incident. The Andhra Pradesh government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each to the kin of the deceased devotees who died in a stampede here.

Hundreds of devotees turned up from across the country for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam commencing from January 10. “We cannot replace life with anything else. To support the families, we have announced Rs 25 lakh,” said Prasad, talking to reporters after calling on the victims’ families as part of a group of ministers visit.

Senior YSRCP leader and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chairman B Karunakar Reddy demanded that Chief Minister should own moral responsibility for the Tirupati stampede and initiate stringent action against the officials responsible. The Congress’ state unit held the TTD that governs the Lord Venkatswara temple, responsible for the tragedy and called for immediate probe into the incident.

According to the former TTD chairman, the incident occurred due to the inefficiency of the administration, which is more “inclined towards serving Chandrababu Naidu than Lord Venkateswara”.

“Chandrababu Naidu always gives priority to publicity and self-boasting and such an incident was seen during Godavari pushkarams, which claimed over 30 lives due to his publicity craze,” he said, referring to a previous stampede incident on the banks of Godavari river in Rajamundry during erstwhile TDP regime between 2014 and 2019.