Congress top brass raps state unit for Bengaluru stampede

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The much-anticipated meeting on Tuesday between the Congress high command, CM Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar to discuss alleged lapses that led to the stampede outside cricket stadium resulted in putting up a united front with the party leadership backing its govt.

However, the main takeaway from the meeting was that a fresh caste enumeration would be taken up in the state.The meeting, attended by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Randeep Singh Surjewala and KC Venugopal, saw the high command accepting the action taken by the govt in the aftermath of the tragedy."The CM and PCC chief briefed the leadership about the incident and the action taken post incident.

Certainly, we are concerned about every human life. Anyway, the govt has constituted a judicial inquiry to look into the entire incident. During the inquiry, the party did not want to involve itself in the nitty-gritty of the issue," said Venugopal after the meeting.It is said the govt may use the opportunity to push for a cabinet reshuffle and a possible expansion. Portfolio reshuffle may happen before Aashada Venugopal, however, added that the party has asked the govt to be more people-friendly in this regard.

"But generally, the party clearly viewed that there needs to be a pro-people attitude on this issue (from the govt)," said the AICC general secretary."If things go as planned, the CM may consider a cabinet expansion with the inclusion of one or two ministers and reshuffle the portfolios to suggest political accountability," said one govt officer, hinting it may happen before the onset of inauspicious month of Aashada in mid-June.However, DK Shivakumar dismissed any discussions on a possible cabinet reshuffle.According to Congress insiders, the situation is too volatile for an inclusion process, with at least 8 to 10 serious aspirants waiting for their turn, and any decision to add only 1 or 2 persons would create unrest. "We do believe there may be a portfolio reshuffle with controversy-ridden ministers being asked to change their departments," said a legislator.The top among the portfolios that are likely to see a change, if any, would be the home department and excise department, both of whose ministers have been in the news for the wrong reasons.