"Should not have invited so many people if he knows he is popular": BJP MP Hema Malini calls Karur stampede "unfortunate'"

Karur (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 30 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Hema Malini who arrived in Karur on Tuesday to inspect the site of the stampede that took place on September 26 during a public event of the TVK (Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam) chief and actor Vijay, claiming 41 lives said that the large number of gathering should have been avoided if the party leader was aware of his popularity.
Malini further blamed the administration and called the incident "unfortunate."
"Our delegation has come from various place to come and witness on what happened that day....It is such a horrible and the biggest stampede. It had never happened in the history of politics...Political rallies are done in a very proper manner and it is made sure that the people present are comfortable... Administration should have taken care of that, they failed to do it...People are also feeling very bad about it. I went and saw the place where the stampede took place. It is very sad to see such a site because.....Who is responsible for all this, we want to know...We have now come to the hospital to see the injured people also. They are recovering...It is very sad to see such a thing, it should not happen...Vijay should have seen that if he is so popular, he should not invite so many people..." Malini said while addressing the media.
MP Anurag Thakur, also a part of the delegation, demanded a free and fair investigation.
"Though there were 3-4 hospitals in the surrounding areas, the injured were not taken there. They were brought here and it took much more time. We will be meeting the District officials after this. We have prepared a list of questions to ask them...The truth is that the common people have lost their lives...Who is responsible? There should be a free and fair probe into this. We feel that a sitting Supreme Court judge must look into this and there should be a free and fair probe by the sitting SC judge and let the truth come out...The ruling party and the officials must answer this...We want them to reply by this weekend so that this committee should finalise the report at the earliest and submit it to the BJP national president," Thakur said.
He also questioned the work of the Intelligence Department and the steps taken by the police officials on the day of the incident.
"What is the Intelligence Department doing here? Were they not aware of how many people had gathered? If Vijay has come late, already thousands of people had gathered there. What steps were taken by the Police Dept? Where was the local administration? What were the organisers doing, throwing bottles?..." he further said.
The BJP delegation that visited Karur included, BJP MPs Anurag Thakur, Tejasvi Surya, Braj Lal, Aprajita Sarangi, Rekha Sharma, and Shrikant Shinde from the Shiv Sena, as well as Putta Mahesh Kumar from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). BJP MP Hema Malini is the convenor of the committee.