The Opposition BJP has decided to launch a State-wide protest campaign against the Congress government by involving the family members of those who lost their lives in the stampede at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium during the RCB victory celebrations. The party has also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on moral grounds.

As part of the campaign, the BJP has decided to hold a protest against the alleged failure of the government, at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on June 13.

BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra said the family members of the victims, as well as those pained by the tragedy, would participate in the protest along with party workers in the city.

Accusing the government of bungling the felicitation programme preparations, he maintained that the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister should be considered as “accused-1 and accused-2”, respectively, in this case, while Home Minister G. Parameshwara should be “accused-3”.

Alleging that the political tussle between the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister resulted in the stampede, he said while the Chief Minister wanted to hog the limelight by holding a felicitation programme in front of the Vidhana Soudha, the Deputy Chief Minister had tried to get credit by visiting the stadium where a grand programme was held.

Open letter

Mr. Vijayendra also sent an open letter to the Chief Minister, demanding that both he and the Deputy Chief Minister quit, taking moral responsibility for the incident.

He alleged that the Chief Minister had decided to go ahead with the felicitation programme by heeding the advice of his “sycophant aides” who wanted to please him by creating an opportunity for him to bask in the glory of the RCB’s IPL victory.

Meanwhile, Leaders of the Opposition in both Houses of the legislature R. Ashok and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy visited the house of Bhoomik, who died in the stampede, in Hassan and tried to console his father.