A senior Congress leader in Andhra Pradesh has termed as bogus the shock deaths of 600 people following the demise of chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash early this month.

Giving a bitter twist to the war of words with the loyalists of the late chief minister, who was known as YSR, Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao said the shock deaths were a publicity stunt.