Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is facing heat over last week’s stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium that led to the loss of 11 young lives.
Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar have been summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command.
They have been told to meet Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, Congress sources told CNN-News18.
DKS is already in Delhi for a government programme, while Siddaramaiah is likely to fly to the national capital on Tuesday morning.
A complaint against the CM and deputy CM was filed to the state Governor on Sunday.
Siddaramaiah expressed grief over the stampede, saying that the incident should not have happened.
“This incident shouldn’t have happened… it happened at the cricket stadium. I don’t have any connection with the cricket stadium,” the CM told reporters in Mysuru on Sunday
Asked about the Opposition’s claim that the suspended police commissioner B Dayananda has been made a scapegoat, Siddaramaiah countered that not only the top cop but five other officers have also been pulled up, and the intelligence chief removed.
“My political secretary K Govindaraj has also been removed. We have taken a series of actions, not the police commissioner alone,” the CM added.
The tragedy unfolded as tens and thousands gathered to greet the IPL-winning Royal Challengers Bengaluru team, which flew in to Bengaluru on June 4 afternoon after lifting the trophy the previous night at Ahmedabad.
After a felicitation at Vidhana Soudha, the players were brought to the Chinnaswamy Stadium, their home ground, which can hold around 35,000 people. The crowd swelled, trying to get inside the stadium, and in the absence of adequate police force, a stampede took place outside one of the entry gates.
BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) have been demanding the resignation of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over ‘criminal negligence’ that led to the tragedy.
