"I don't do politics, have taken action": Siddaramaiah defends Karnataka government's response in Bengaluru stampede case

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 6 (ANI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for politicising the recent stampede at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which claimed 11 lives. His remarks came after the BJP accused the Congress-led state government of making the police a "scapegoat" in the incident.
CM Siddaramaiah said the state government has already taken action against officials who were found to be "visibly responsible" and "negligent in their duty."
"They are doing it for politics. I don't do politics. We have taken action against those who were visibly responsible and found to be negligent in their duty," the Chief Minister said here.
Meanwhile, Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra accused the state government of only acting when pressure was put on them.
"The state government has acted only after coming under pressure... Action has been taken against RCB and the Karnataka Cricket Association. Yesterday, the Chief Minister suddenly suspended senior police officers, including the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, and five other officials," Vijayendra said.
Blaming senior state cabinet members, including CM Siddaramaiah, Dy CM Shivakumar, and state home minister G Parameshwara for the stampede, he demanded an investigation into their actions.
"The real accused is none other than Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Accused no. 2 is Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. Accused no. 3 is Home Minister G. Parameshwara. They must truly be subjected to investigation," the state BJP president said.
Following the death of 11 people in the stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, the Karnataka police have suspended multiple IPS officers, including the Bengaluru city police Commissioner, B Dayananda.
Senior IPS officer Seemant Kumar Singh took charge as the city police commissioner earlier today.
Apart from Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar HT, Assistant Commissioner of Police Balakrishna and Cubbon Park Police Inspector Girish AK were also suspended with immediate effect.
Notably, Karnataka Police filed an FIR against the Karnataka Cricket Board Administrative Committee, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), among others, in the Bengaluru stampede incident.' In response, KSCA has filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking the quashing of FIRs filed against it.
KSCA board of directors, including President Raghuram Bhat, Secretary A. Shankar, Treasurer E.S. Jairam, appealed for the cancellation of the FIR. The hearing on the petition will be held today in the afternoon by a bench of Justice Krishna Kumar. (ANI)