West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh): Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA and a first time lawmaker of Andhra Pradesh, Nimmala Rama Naidu took a dare to convince scared construction workers there are no ghosts and spirits by sleeping in a crematorium.
The MLA from Andhra's Palakole had his dinner at the crematorium before spending the night there on June 22.
Not ghosts, but mosquitoes and stench from garbage dumped nearby, bothered the lawmaker during his sleepover on the first night. So for the next night, the lawmaker came prepared with a mosquito net.
The area near the cremation ground had been turned into a dump yard.
In the images, Rama Naidu was seen sleeping on a bed with a pink sheet, covering himself with a white blanket.
The plan was to continue the sleepover for two to three days to prove to people that he was not attacked by any ghost.
Rama Naidu was reportedly inspecting various development works in his constituency, when he observed that the renovation work at the Hindu graveyard was proceeding very slowly as the workers were skipping work due to fear of dead bodies being uncovered while digging the ground.
According to reports, someone apparently saw a half-burnt body at the cremation ground which sparked instant panic and stories about ghosts started doing rounds.
The legislator says the crematorium had been neglected for several years. The government had sanctioned Rs 3 crore eight months ago for its renovation.
"No contractor came forward to take up the work even though we called for tenders. Two months ago, we found one contractor but the workers were still scared,'' Rama Naidu explained.
The Andhra MLA's act caught the attention of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who "praised" Rama Naidu for spending a night at a crematorium.
TDP MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu deserves praise for spending a night at a crematorium where workers had refused to enter after dark to do modernisation work out of fear of ‘spirits’ pic.twitter.com/NLvP2yzNnw
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) June 24, 2018
