Bengaluru stampede: CM Siddaramaiah denies any link to stadium

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has expressed grief over the stampede that killed 11 people outside the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, saying the incident should not have happened. He also clarified that he “didn’t have any connection with the cricket stadium”. Addressing reporters here on Sunday, the CM said, “This incident shouldn’t have happened, it happened at the Cricket stadium. I don’t have any connection with the cricket stadium.” The stampede occurred on June 4 evening in front of the Chinnaswamy stadium, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the RCB team’s IPL victory celebrations. The opposition is demanding the resignation of the chief minister and deputy chief minister in this issue. He said, “It was an unfortunate incident, it shouldn’t have happened. Such an incident never happened after I became the CM. Prima facie it seems to have happened because of the officials’ fault, so we have taken action. Everyone is in pain, including me.” Siddaramaiah said he attended the RCB team felicitation event in front of Vidhana Soudha on the invitation by Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA ) Secretary and Treasurer. Asked about the allegation that the then Bengaluru Police commissioner B Dayananda was made scapegoat, he said, the Commissioner alone has not been suspended, five officers have been suspended, and the intelligence chief has been changed. “My political secretary K Govindaraj has been removed. We have taken a series of actions, not the police commissioner alone,” he added. On the issue of transfering Hindutva activist Suhas Shetty’s murder case to NIA he said, “DGP has spoken to me and I have asked him to consult advocate general after that decision can be made.” @@@@