The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday slammed the Congress government in Karnataka over the deaths in a stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru celebrations in Bengaluru, demanding that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara take responsibility for the incident.
Karnataka BJP chief B Y Vijayendra accused the Siddaramaiah government of pressuring the police and organising celebrations without any preparedness and adequate police deployment.
Eleven people died and 33 were injured in the stampede near the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as thousands of RCB fans gathered to catch a glimpse of the team after their first-ever IPL win.
"Is it not the responsibility of the state government to be prepared? Were they not aware that lakhs and lakhs of people will come to the celebrations?" Vijayendra said in Bengaluru.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi held the Karnataka government responsible for the incident and demanded that responsibility be fixed.
'It's heartbreaking to see such loss because of poor planning and crowd mismanagement,' the BJP MP from Karnataka's Dharwad Lok Sabha seat said in a post on X.
The state government in Karnataka has 'clearly' failed in its responsibility, he charged.
'(Holding) celebrations is one thing, but the state government without proper planning, without taking emergency services into confidence, took this urgent and unfortunate decision. This could have been avoided,' Joshi said.
'The government is responsible for this and accountability needs to be fixed,' he added.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced a magisterial inquiry into the incident and accused the BJP of doing politics over the tragedy.
"11 are dead and 33 injured due to stampede near Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru...More than 2-3 lakh people came, and no one expected this much crowd," Siddaramaiah said at a press conference.
He also said that the stadium could only accommodate 35 thousand spectators.
The chief minister also announced a Rs 10 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla targeted the state government, blaming 'state-sponsored negligence' for the loss of lives.
"A matter of celebration has become a matter of tragedy. Home Minister (G Parameshwara) must take the responsibility. Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) must take the responsibility. Under their watch, law and order and general administration and even crowd management was not possible," he charged.
"Nothing short of state-sponsored negligence, state-sponsored callousness, state-sponsored murder," Poonawalla alleged, adding, "This is the true face of the Congress in Karnataka."
Another BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari charged the Karnataka government with 'criminal negligence'.
"Innocent lives lost in a horrific stampede -- all because the Congress government couldn't manage a crowd. No planning, no responsibility, no accountability. This is not just misgovernance, it's criminal negligence."
Bhandari said Bengaluru was recently drowning in rain and chaos while Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi were busy 'enjoying red carpet celebrations'.
"Today, the people are paying the price for their apathy and arrogance," the BJP spokesperson said.
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