Bengaluru IPL stampede: Congress MLC admits lapses, says government was under pressure to felicitate RCB team

Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara is briefed by Bengaluru Commissioner of Police B. Dayananda in the wake of a stampede near Chinnaswamy stadium that claimed 11 lives, in Bengaluru on June 5, 2025.

Reacting to the stampede in Bengaluru that claimed 11 lives during the victory celebrations of the RCB cricket team, which won the IPL 2025 trophy, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said that the government was under pressure to felicitate the team, but there were lapses in assessing the ground situation.

Speaking to media persons in Mysuru on June 5, the Congress MLC said the event was organised following requests from the cricket franchise, and even the BJP had tweeted in favour of it. The police was vested with the responsibility of assessing the situation. Initially, police did not give consent for the victory parade, but subsequently gave clearance for conducting it at Chinnaswamy stadium.

He said there was no problem at the Vidhana Soudha where a State-organised felicitation programme was held. But the turnout at the Chinnaswamy stadium was higher than expected. Against the capacity of nearly 35,000, more than 3 lakh people had turned up. “There was a lapse in assessing the emerging situation,” said Mr. Yathindra.

He dismissed the opposition’s demand for resignation of senior ministers, asserting that there was no failure on the part of the Chief Minister or the Deputy CM.

‘’A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to find out what went wrong, and it will help fix accountability following which suitable action will be initiated,” he said.

He said a proposed roadshow in an open bus was cancelled, keeping in mind safety of the RCB team members.

Mr. Yathindra terms dubbed the opposition’s demand for resignation of ministers as ‘’hypocritical’. He said the opposition had defended similar incidents in other States ruled by them, and no minister had resigned.

Published - June 05, 2025 04:44 pm IST