Earlier on Wednesday, Shivakumar had apologised for the stampede that turned celebrations into mourning.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday broke down while speaking to reporters about the Bengaluru stampede during RCB’s IPL victory celebrations, which left 11 people dead and 33 with injuries.
“I am worried about the children, those small children, I saw they were 15 years old. I’ve seen with my eyes at least 10 people who died. No family can digest this loss,” a visibly emotional Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru.
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He stressed that a lesson must be learnt from the incident and slammed the BJP for ”doing politics on dead bodies”.
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“We must learn an administrative lesson, let the opposition do politics on dead bodies. I will list how many dead bodies they have done politics on,” he said, adding, “it hurts to see the little children in pain.”
#WATCH | Bengaluru: Karnataka DCM DK Shivakumar breaks down as he comes out to address the media for the first time after the #BengaluruStampede. pic.x.com/1GDMZOBAm4
— ANI (@ANI) June 5, 2025
Shivakumar was heavily criticised for attending the ceremony held at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru while people were crushed to death outside the venue.
The Opposition BJP has squarely blamed the Karnataka government for the incident and demanded the resignations of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar.
Earlier on Wednesday, Shivakumar had apologised for the stampede that turned celebrations into mourning.
“This should not have happened, and we never expected such a big crowd. The stadium’s capacity is 35,000, but more than 3 lakh people were there. Gates (of the stadium) have been broken. We apologise for this incident. We want to know the facts and give a clear message,” he said.
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