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Hema Malini to lead NDA panel to Karur, meet kin of stampede victims today
Other leaders in the delegation include BJP's Anurag Thakur, Braj Lal, Aprajita Sarangi, Rekha Sharma.
An eight-member delegation of the ruling NDA will visit Tamil Nadu's Karur to take stalk of the situation and look into the circumstances that led to a stampede at Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) rally. The delegation is being led by Mathura MP, Hema Malini.
At least 41 people died and over 60 injured in the crush at the rally by actor-politician Vijay on Saturday evening.
Other leaders in the delegation, constituted by BJP chief JP Nadda, include Anurag Thakur, Tejasvi Surya and Braj Lal, Aprajita Sarangi, Rekha Sharma, Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde and Putta Mahesh Kumar from Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The delegation is expected to submit a detailed report after assessing the situation on the ground and meeting the affected families.
On Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with Union Minister L Murugan and Tamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagenthran, met the families of those who died in the Karur stampede. "I can't describe their sorrow. I am shattered ...I am unable to speak or console the bereaved," Sitharaman told reporters.
Sitharaman also visited the Government Medical College Hospital in Karur.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has stressed on the need to have rules for public events to be be organised responsibly so that tragedies like this do not happen again.
"What happened in Karur is a great tragedy; a cruel tragedy! A tragedy that has never happened before; a tragedy that should never happen again. The scenes I witnessed when I personally visited the hospital are still fresh before my eyes. I continue to remain in deep grief and sorrow," Stalin said in a video message posted on his X handle.
Meanwhile, TVK's district secretary Mathiazhagan was arrested in connection with the Karur stampede case.
Mathyiyalagan, who was held from near the Karur-Dindigul border, has been booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 125 (endangering life of others), and 223 (disobedience to order), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, PTI reported.
Two other TVK office bearers have also been named in the FIR into the stampede that occurred on Saturday. Apart from Mathiyazhagan, TVK state general secretary Bussy Anand and party deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar are also named in the FIR.
