Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who has come under intense criticism following the tragic stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the RCB players were being felicitated, has defended himself. Talking to media persons on Sunday, the Congress leader said that he was present at the event only because he was invited and was also told that the Governor would also attend the victory celebrations.
Did not organise the felicitation: Siddaramaiah
Siddaramaiah also said that it was not he or his government which had organised the felicitation ceremony for the cricketers. He said, “The secretary and treasurer of KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) came and invited me to the event. We didn’t organise the function, the KSCA did.”
NDTV quoted the CM as saying that the KSCA informed him that the Governor will also be attending the function. He claimed that he only went there and did not know anything else. He said that he was not invited to the stadium.
The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were present outside the Vidhan Soudha, near the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the victory march of the cricketers and fans ended. The leaders met the cricketers outside the government building.
The VIP presence however led to problems for the police force. The security team was divided into providing protection to the VIPs and also maintaining and controlling the crowd which had gathered to catch a glimpse of their favourite cricketers and to take part in the victory march of Royal Challengers Bangalore team.
The BJP has blamed the presence of VIPs, which they said led to thinning of police force on the ground for the stampede. The ruling Congress meanwhile held the Karnataka Police responsible for the tragic incident and has suspended senior officials including the city police chief. The police were accused of “dereliction of duty”.
The BJP reacted to the suspension of the police chief strongly and said that the police force was being made a scapegoat by the ruling Congress. Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka assembly R Ashoka, held Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar directly responsible for the stampede.
11 people were killed and 47 were left injured after the stampede at the stadium. RCB won the IPL trophy after 18 years, but the celebrations soon turned into mourning, following the shocking turn of events at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
