Bengaluru, July 19 -- The BJP on Friday accused the Congress-led Karnataka government of avoiding responsibility for the stampede that killed 11 people during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) IPL victory celebration on June 4. The party claimed that the state's senior-most leaders used the event for political mileage while ignoring safety protocols.

At a press conference in Bengaluru, former deputy chief minister and BJP MLA C.N. Ashwath Narayan called the government's internal report "highly condemnable" and alleged that police officials had warned against the event but were made scapegoats. "Police officers had opposed the event. Yet they shifted the blame onto the police and RCB," he said. "Even when people were dying, the Deputy C...