VIJAYAWADA:The Opposition parties in the State slammed the report submitted by Justice (retired) CY Somayajulu after inquiring into the stampede that killed 29 people on the first day of the Godavari Pushkaram in Rajamahendravaram in 2015. While the YSRC rejected the report saying that it was drafted to absolve Chief Minister N Chandrababu of his mistakes and shift the blame to the public and media, the BJP found fault with it for making observations which were far from the truth.
Former minister and BJP MLA Pydikondala Manikyala Rao said that the Somayajulu’s observations were unethical and toed the line of the TDP.
“The entire report is far from the truth. How can the people or the media be blamed for it? A government has intelligence at its disposal. If it’s planning a massive event, it has to get reports from the intelligence and manage the crowds accordingly. It was a complete failure of the police and intelligence departments,” Manikyala Rao told TNIE. Incidentally, Rao was the Endowments Minister and was at the location when the tragedy took place.
Earlier in the day, YSRC spokesperson Vasireddy Padma, in a press meet in Hyderabad, said that the report appeared as if the CM himself prepared it and got it signed by Justice Somajayulu.
“We reject the commission report as it is nothing but an eyewash and it overlooked the basic facts vouchsafed by the top officials immediately after the incident. The lapse of time does not change or alter the happenings and we blame Chandrababu Naidu not only for the stampede but also for trying to distort the facts,” she observed.