Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, on Friday tore apart his rival N Chandrababu Naidu blaming his “publicity mania” for the stampede and deaths of 8 TDP workers 2 days back at Kandukur town of Nellore district.

In a blistering attack, he accused the former Chief Minister of mentioning the caste of the deceased for petty political gains.

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“For the sake of a photo shoot, for a drone shot despite only a few turning up they pushed them in a narrow lane to show a large number of people. They used the vehicle to barricade and killed 8 people,” said Reddy at a public meeting in Joginathunipalem in Anakapalle district.

He went on to mock Naidu, “This is idem karma Babu,” referring to TDP’s latest outreach programme – idem karma (This is bad situation).

“Naidu killed 8 people for his political gains. It is so heinous and shameful. Politics is not about drone shots but for bringing fundamental changes in the lives of the people,” said Reddy.

He reminded the audience of the 29 deaths due to stampede in Godavari Pushkuralu at Rajamundry in 2015 when Naidu was the chief minister. “He was with a Tollywood director busy in shooting during Godavari Pushkuralu leading to the stampede. This is nothing new for him. He only cares about his own publicity,” said the chief minister.

He also slammed his political rival for taking out another roadshow the very next day without any repentance or taking moral responsibility for the tragedy.

Reddy wondered why people would turn-up for the roadshows when all he did was cheating and back stabbing. He cheated even the women of self help groups, students, unemployed, Scheduled castes and backward classes.

He also took a dig at Jana Sena leader, Pawan Kalyan, calling him the foster son of Naidu who came into politics 14 years ago but failed to win a single seat. He is now carrying Chandrababu Naidu on his shoulders and parroting his script.

The TDP has blamed the police for inadequate arrangements for crowd control. However, the police have said the roadshow was permitted on the main roads.

However, it moved in a narrow lane where the cement slab on the drain could not hold so many people and collapsed under their weight leading to the tragedy.