While Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took a soft stand towards the TTD, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan held the body responsible for the incident.
Published Jan 10, 2025 | 8:30 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 10, 2025 | 10:41 AM
Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan.
In what is now becoming a pattern, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan launched a strong attack against administrative bodies of his own government, this time the target being the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD).
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s tragic stampede at Tirupati, which left six devotees dead and more than 40 others injured, the deputy CM on Thursday, 9 January, directly blamed the top three of the TTD – Executive Officer (EO) J Shyamal Rao, chairman BR Naidu and Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdhary.
This was quite contrary to the stance taken by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Even though unhappy over the incident, Naidu spared the top brass of the TTD while ordering the suspension and transfer of officials who were present on the field and yet did not ensure smooth management of the crowd.
What also surprised many was Pawan Kalyan addressing a gathering outside the hospital, where he called on the injured roughly the same time Naidu was briefing the media a little distance away to announce the government’s position. All other ministers who visited Tirupati after the incident sat with the chief minister at the press conference.
On an earlier occasion, Pawan Kalyan directly blamed the home minister for law and order issues and even threatened to take over the portfolio if she did not ensure improvement in the functioning of the department.
Apologising to the people of Andhra Pradesh for the loss of lives in Tirupati and taking full responsibility for the incident, Pawan Kalyan called for the purgation of the TTD, which manages the Tirumala temple and related affairs. Naming the heads, he said: “They too should be held accountable for the mismanagement that led to this tragedy.”
The deputy chief minister’s demand came as a surprise since TTD chairman Rajagopal Naidu, also the owner of Telugu television news channel TV5, was handpicked by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for the position.
Rajagopal Naidu, who hails from Chittoor district, was in the good books of Naidu for standing with him when he was in the Opposition and fighting former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Rajagopal Naidu was rewarded with the post of TTD chairman after the TDP-led NDA came to power in the state.
Pawan Kalyan held the entire TTD board responsible for the tragedy and said it needed to be reorganised. “The TTD Board, including its chairman, is appointed by the state government. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that no disaster like last night’s stampede takes place. Yet, the board failed and we are facing flak because of their failure,” he said.
The deputy chief minister further urged the board to give more importance to ordinary devotees than the VIPs visiting the hill shrine.
“In this task, the TTD board has woefully failed,” he said and recalled the vice-president of India expressing concern over the increasing importance being given to the VIPs at the cost of ordinary devotees.
Pawan Kalyan did not spare the police either. “The policemen on the ground should have known the crowd mentality. The TTD staff and the police knew nothing about crowd control,” he alleged
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
