Ruling party should not be blamed for stampede: BCCI VP Shukla

'It should not be politicised. If this happens in a BJP-ruled state, we should not blame them.'

IMAGE: Congress MP and BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla. Photograph: BCCI

Vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Congress MP, Rajeev Shukla believes the Congress, the ruling party in Karnataka, "should not be blamed" for the stampede that broke out outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's felicitatons on Wednesday.

Karnataka Legislative Council member, BK Hariprasad, confirmed that that 11 people, including a woman, died in the stampede.

Shukla urged that the stampede outside the stadium should not be "politicised" and revealed he spoke to the franchise.

"This can happen in any state, and the ruling party should not be blamed for it. It should not be politicised. If this happens in a BJP-ruled state, we should not blame them.

"The crowd was huge. I spoke to the franchise (RCB), and they also did not think that such a huge crowd would come, and this incident happened suddenly. Efforts are being made to provide maximum help to the families of the deceased," Shukla told reporters.

"The government did stop the roadshow in order to avoid a stampede or any such situation. But it was not anticipated that a stampede would happen outside the stadium. Everybody should work together on the damage control," he added.

Opposition parties in the state, including the Janata Dal (Secular), have squarely blamed the Congress-led state government for what they describe as a complete failure of planning and public safety.

Union Minister of Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy said the primary reason for this "massive tragedy is the lack of proper planning and complete failure to take precautionary measures".

Kumaraswamy, a former Karnataka Chief Minister, said the state's Congress government must take full responsibility for this disaster.

"The tragic incident of a stampede near Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium during the RCB victory celebrations, resulting in the unfortunate death of people, has left me deeply shocked. It is extremely painful to see innocent lives lost even before the celebrations could begin," he said.