NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tejasvi Surya on Friday took a dig at the Congress-led Karnataka government over the Bengaluru stampede, which claimed the lives of 11 people. Surya mockingly credited chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s long-awaited IPL trophy, while reacting to the chaos and political drama following victory celebrations and stampede. “We, RCB fans, are indebted to CM Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar for winning us the IPL after 18 years. They displayed incredible cricketing and leadership skills on the field and brought our club this long elusive glory,” Tejasvi wrote on X. The tweet, dripping with sarcasm, further said: “We are also very upset about Virat Kohli, other players and the RCB Management for poor arrangement of the security measures at the program organised to honour CM & DK and their families for winning us the trophy.”“Good that RCB Management is arrested and police commissioner is suspended. They are primarily responsible for security in Bengaluru,” Tejasvi wrote. Ending his post with another sharp punchline, the BJP MP said: “Anyways, CM and DKS can now go back to Chinnaswamy Stadium to start practising for their next IPL season.”Meanwhile, the Karnataka government removed MLC K Govindaraj from his role as political secretary to chief minister Siddaramaiah.An official notification issued by the state government confirmed the development: “The appointment of K Govindaraj as Political Secretary to the Chief Minister is hereby revoked with immediate effect. Accordingly, K Govindaraj is hereby relieved from the post with immediate effect.”Govindaraj, who was reportedly involved in organising the event, faced criticism over the lack of planning and coordination at the high-profile celebration.The chief minister has also taken stern administrative action, suspending Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda and four senior police officials for lapses in crowd control and public safety.The state government is under pressure from both the public and opposition parties to fix responsibility for the tragedy and ensure such lapses are not repeated.
