Bengaluru stampede: Dy. CM breaks down over deaths, HDK demands his ouster from Cabinet

A day after the death of 11 persons in the stampede during RCB’s victory celebrations in Bengaluru, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday broke down before the media, while speaking over the episode. The Opposition mocked him for shedding tears after allowing the tragedy to strike.

Union Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy demanded his ouster from the State Cabinet, accusing him of being responsible for the episode.

“The Opposition is politicking. But I am grief-stricken over the death of children,” the Deputy Chief Minister said, weeping, while interacting with media persons in Bengaluru. “Those children had a bright future ahead of them. This incident has tarnished the reputation of Bengaluru and Karnataka. We have taken this incident seriously, and we will rectify the shortcomings. This is a lesson for us.”

He said the City Police Commissioner had told them that the programme in the stadium should be confined to just 10 minutes. “I had no plans to go to the stadium earlier. However, upon being told by the police commissioner, I rushed to the venue. Even the KSCA president and secretary could not go to the stadium, and I had to take them in my car. We spoke to the RCB management to keep the programme short.” He said this was a time for mourning and not for scoring some political brownie points.

Counter attack

Launching a counterattack on the Opposition, Mr. Shivakumar declared that he would talk about similar tragedies that have taken place during their regime in the forthcoming legislative session. “I can list out all the tragedies that took place during the BJP and JD(S) regime. But I don’t want to stoop to their level. I will talk about such incidents during the BJP and JD(S) regimes in the legislative session. I am not going to talk about what happened during the death of Kannada actor Rajkumar (during JD (S)-BJP regime).”

Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy blamed Mr. Shivakumar for the tragedy and said the Chief Minister should sack him if he had any courage. “The DCM’s hunger for publicity even amidst the tragic deaths and his rude behaviour at the programme was the height of insensitivity.” He further described the entire programme in front of Vidhana Soudha as a “show of daadaagiri (bullying) by Mr. Shivakumar.” Even after coming to know about deaths, he participated in the victory programme, claimed Mr. Kumaraswamy.

Published - June 05, 2025 09:46 pm IST