Cong high command backs K'taka leadership on stampede enquiry

Bengaluru, June 10 The Congress high command told Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday that, while they were concerned about the stampede that led to the loss of 11 precious lives, the party would not interfere with the functioning of the government during the course of the judicial enquiry.

AICC National General Secretary K.C. Venugopal made this statement to the media in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Earlier, CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress chief, met the national leadership, including Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, and briefed them about the stampede during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) victory celebrations on June 4.

Karnataka incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala was also present at the meeting.

Venugopal stated, "We discussed the current political situation, including the unfortunate and tragic stampede incident that happened in Bengaluru. The CM and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President briefed the leadership about the incident and the action taken by the Karnataka government post-incident."

"Certainly, we are very much concerned about every human life. We are the party that believes every life matters more. An unfortunate incident happened. The Government of Karnataka has already ordered a judicial enquiry to find out what exactly occurred," Venugopal stated.

He further underlined, "During the course of the judicial enquiry, the party does not want to delve into the nitty-gritty of the issue. But, generally, the party has clearly viewed that there should be a clear-cut pro-people attitude on this as well."

He further stated that the meeting also discussed the caste census conducted by the Karnataka government.

On the caste census issue, the Congress party believes that whatever the Karnataka government has done on the caste census has to be agreed upon in principle. However, he noted that there are some apprehensions among some sections of people regarding the counting during the caste census and that the census which was conducted by the Government of Karnataka 10 years ago, has outdated data.

"We have suggested to the CM to do a re-enumeration process within a stipulated time, like 60 or 70 days, whatever the CM and the government are considering. Do a re-enumeration of these numbers. This is what we have decided on the caste census," he stated.

He further added, "Not many issues came up today. The central government's attitude is one of the most important things. They are completely neglecting the state of Karnataka on Plan allocation. You see the central Plan allocation to the state of Karnataka; it is totally unacceptable."

"They are marginalising Karnataka. The injustice by the Narendra Modi government to the people of Karnataka is not acceptable. These are the things we discussed in the meeting," he stated.

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