Death of 29 pilgrims in the stampede on the first day of Godavari Pushkaram at Rajahmundry is turning into a major embarrassment for the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The Opposition parties have put Naidu in the dock alleging that shooting of a documentary film by a prominent Telugu film director featuring the Chief Minister and his family was responsible for creating the chaos which led to the stampede and deaths although a preliminary report prepared by the East Godavari district collector Arun Kumar blamed the stampede on the surge of the pilgrims and failure of the police.
Even the report of the district collector has also mentioned the fact that “the rituals by the VIPs” were also contributing factor in the stampede. Though the report did not elaborate on this aspect, the Opposition parties have pointed out the photographs of film director Boyapati Srinivas directing the Chief Minister and his wife Bhuvaneswari standing in the waters of Godavari at the Ghats meant for the ordinary pilgrims as the crowds swelled outside.
Senior leader of YSR Congress party Botsa Satyanarayana alleged that Boyapati Srinivas shot a documentary on Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his participation in the Godavari Pushkaram in his family. “This led to an inordinate delay in opening the gates of Pushkar Ghat for the ordinary pilgrims and led to a last minute surge,” he said demanding a thorough probe into the incident and action against the guilty.
“Chandrababu Naidu who was on a self promotion mission is totally responsible for the deaths and he should quit on moral grounds,” he said.
He demanded that a case should be booked against the Chief Minister and others who participated in the shooting of the film and also the director of the film.
The district collector prepared the report to be sent to the Union Home Ministry and the National Human Rights Commission through the state Chief Secretary. Sources said that the report will be sent only after it was okayed by the Chief Minister.
Though the report was not yet made public, a leaked version of the report said that heavy influx of pilgrims started increasing as time passed and by about 8-30am crowd from all directions started breaching the barricades set up for crowd management and attempted to move in various direction. “The police could not control this flow and it resulted in a stampede,” the report said.