BENGALURU: Following the deaths of around 10 people during the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) victory celebrations on Wednesday at Chinnaswamy Stadium, the BJP's state president BY Vijayendra demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
He was speaking after visiting the hospital and meeting some of the injured persons.
Interacting with the media, he said the police did not agree to a celebration at Vidhana Soudha but the government forced them to budge and went ahead with it.
"The government prioritised publicity over security arrangements. The CM should answer and I urge that a judicial probe be ordered into the stampede deaths," he said.
He also added that the state government went ahead without any preparation. Even after the T20 World Cup celebration at Mumbai, there was no stampede, he said. "When lakhs of people celebrated last night, the state government should have given a thought before organising the event today," he said.
The BJP had earlier slammed the state government for its 'criminal negligence' after more than 10 deaths were reported in the stampede.
Expressing anger, BJP Karnataka on its official X handle posted: "No basic arrangements. Just chaos. While innocent people died," it stated. Further, it stated that CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar were busy shooting reels and hogging the limelight with cricketers. "Shame on this photo-op Congress government. This is criminal negligence. Blood is on the hands of Congress government," it added.
Senior BJP leader and former minister CT Ravi alleged that the state government is responsible for the deaths. "There was no preparation. This is a state sponsored murder," he tweeted.
Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, "It's unforgivable. Many lives lost—including a child—during RCB’s victory celebrations at Chinnaswamy Stadium. The stampede was not an accident, it was a result of the Congress government’s total failure in crowd management and security. Celebration turned into tragedy—because this government was asleep," he alleged.
