Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar on Thursday addressed the media for the first time after the Bengaluru stampede and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) of “playing politics with corpses”.
Addressing reporters, Shivkumar became emotional expressing his grief and reiterated his support for families who are hurt by losing their loved ones.
Expressing grief over the stampede, Shivkumar said, “I do not want to do dirty politics. BJP and JDS always do politics on dead bodies, this is their political agenda. But they should see what they have done, we are very sad, the image of Karnataka, Bengaluru has been tarnished, we are not giving blame, although we are not blaming others, although it is very unremaurant.”
He said, “We should learn administrative lessons, the opposition should allow politics to do politics on dead bodies. I can tell how many corpses they have done politics. But it is sad to see young children. I have seen their pain.”
Targeting JDS leader and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, he said, “Kumaraswamy has been doing politics on corpses, this is his profession. I will not do politics like him what happened during his administration. I am worried about children, I am worried about children, I saw young children. I saw ten people. I could not digest the matter. I could not even digest the matter. I could not even go there.”
11 people were killed and more than 30 injured in a stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. At that time, there was a huge crowd of about 3 lakh people to celebrate the victory of Royal Challengers Bangalore after winning the Indian Premier League (IPL).
He told reporters here, “We did not expect such a crowd after 18 years. Things have happened, now we should be involved in grief. These are members of our family, we are all in shock, CM, Home Minister, the entire government.”
Shivkumar also claimed that the IPL team had earlier announced in front of the media that he was coming to the city and the state government had no “any option” other than allowing the event.
He said, “We did not expect such an incident in our state. RCB told the media that they (Bengaluru) were coming. We had no choice; what happened here in our house. Everyone has their pain in their house. I cannot say that one or two people are wrong here.
He also claimed that as soon as the news of the stampede was revealed, he asked the organizers and officials to stop the program, although the authorities were not allowed to make any announcement.
He said, “We were not allowed to make any announcement there, I did not know who is going there. Then the commissioner came and told us that he had done one or two things. I immediately asked them to stop the program. No speech, nothing, nothing. It is not time to blame anyone. It doesn’t matter what the politician says, it is only his opinion.”
Earlier, Union Minister Kumaraswamy blamed Shivkumar for the stampede and alleged that the incident occurred due to the “impatience, immaturity and irresponsibility” of the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. The Union Minister demanded that “the person responsible for this tragedy should be removed from the cabinet immediately.”
