Jagan slams govt, demands accountability

Tirupati: YSRCP Chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed deep sorrow and outrage over the tragic stam-pede during Vaikunta Ekadasi ticket distribution in Tirupati, which claimed six lives and injured over 50 devotees. Calling it a significant administrative and crowd management failure, he demanded accountability from the state government, the TTD administration and district offi-cials. He visited SVIMS on Thursday and enquired about the health condition of the injured devotees.

Jagan highlighted the unprecedented nature of the tragedy, pointing out that Vaikunta Ekadasi, which annually attracts lakhs of devotees to Tirumala, has never witnessed such an incident before. He criticised the authorities for failing to anticipate the heavy crowd and make ade-quate arrangements, calling it a blatant display of negligence and poor planning. The YSRCP leader specifically blamed the Chief Minister’s visit to Kuppam from January 6 to 8 for diverting police resources to personal programmes. This diversion, he alleged, left the ad-ministration unprepared to manage the massive turnout in Tirupati.

Jagan held the TTD, district administration, and police directly responsible for their failure to manage the situation despite prior knowledge of the expected crowds.

He demanded that the Chief Minister, along with the TTD chairman, executive officer, addi-tional EO, district collector and SP, take full responsibility for the incident. He also urged the government to provide ex gratia payments of Rs.50 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs.5 lakh to those injured.

Drawing comparisons with the previous administration, Jagan claimed that such events were handled efficiently in the past without any casualties. He called the stampede a glaring ex-ample of the current government’s negligence and failure to prioritise the safety and welfare of devotees. The opposition leader demanded a thorough investigation into the lapses and strict action against those found responsible.

Former ministers Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and RK Roja, Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, MP P Midhun Reddy and others were present. Earlier, police stopped Jagan at Tiruchanur cross from where he took another vehicle and reached Tirupati.