The Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu suffered a bruise in his right leg after a makeshift staircase collapsed at Kolakaluru on Thursday afternoon. The injury forced Mr. Naidu to suspend his ongoing ‘Vastunna Meekosam,’ padayatra which completed 2,000 km only on Wednesday. Doctors advised him to take rest for two days.
The incident took place minutes after Mr. Naidu addressed a gathering at the village centre. He climbed atop a 10-foot-high pedestal where statues of B.R Ambedkar, Jagjeevan Ram and N.T. Rama Rao were installed. As he was alighting from the staircase, students of a school and local leaders mobbed him. Mr. Naidu lost his balance as the staircase crumbled under the weight. Former Minister A. Rajendra Prasad, who was following Mr. Naidu, too fell. He was taken to a hospital.