New Delhi: Three women were killed and several others were injured on Sunday, January 1, near Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh during a stampede at a Telugu Desam Party gift-distribution programme.The incident comes just four days after the death of eight people during a similar event in Nellore in southern Andhra Pradesh.Andhra health minister V. Rajini said a woman died on the spot while two others succumbed to injuries while being shifted to a hospital.A police official said that as soon as the organisers started distributing gifts, including sarees, the crowd swelled and they pushed the barricades away leading to a stampede. The gift distribution began after TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu left the venue upon addressing the public meeting at Guntur, about 33 km from here.Naidu has expressed “profound shock and grief” over the tragedy and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased. TDP leader K. Ravindra said he would pay another Rs two lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs one lakh each to the injured persons.Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the government would stand by the families of the victims. In a statement, he ordered swift medical treatment to the injured. The government announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured in the stampede, according to a press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office.State govt blames TDPHealth minister V. Rajini blamed the TDP campaign which came with assurances of gift distribution for the incident.“Three lives have been sacrificed for Naidu’s publicity mania,” she told reporters at the hospital where the injured are being treated in Guntur.Though this was a private programme, the state government has provided enough security, Rajini said. “Chandrababu Naidu should take responsibility for the deaths,” Rajini said.A woman undergoing treatment at a hospital told reporters that they were given a token-like slip earlier in the day and later went to the venue of TDP’s meeting to collect the gifts, reported PTI. The rush led to several falling on the ground, she said.Guntur East MLA Mohammad Mustafa squarely blamed Naidu for the incident.“I request the state government to stop this kind of activities, because they (TDP) are playing with people’s lives. We just saw the incident in Kandukuru,” the legislator said.After the December 28 incident, the ruling YSR Congress Party’s general secretary and advisor to government in public affairs, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy had blamed TDP and its chief Naidu for the tragic incident.Addressing the media on December 29, he said Naidu “deliberately” held the rally in a narrow lane in order to capture the visuals through drone shots to show a huge crowd for his meeting, the ruling party said.The Union government had announced a Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured in the December 28 incident. The state government had also announced a similar compensation to the victims.TDP says Andhra govt responsibleTDP state president K. Atchannaidu blamed the Jagan Mohan Reddy government for the tragic incident, claiming that it failed to provide adequate security.“Is it not the police’s responsibility to ensure adequate security and proper crowd control measures where a former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition is attending an event? Looks like the Jagan regime is putting the people’s lives at stake to carry out its blame game,” Atchannaidu alleged in a statement.He said reaction of some ministers and the vile campaign on social media by the YSR Congress soon after the tragic incident gave rise to suspicion over the ruling dispensation’s evil designs.Naidu, in a separate statement, said he was aghast over the stampede and death of poor people.“It is most unfortunate. I attended the event to encourage a voluntary organisation in its endeavour to help the poor. I am deeply pained that it ended in a tragedy,” the former Chief Minister said.(With PTI inputs)