Lucknow/Etah: The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday came out in defence of the Uttar Pradesh government under fire after the Allahabad stampede, saying the responsibility of crowd management at stations lies with the Railways and it did not make adequate arrangements ahead of the Maha Kumbh.
"Making arrangements at railway station is responsibility of the Railways. It should have made prior perparations to deal with the rush of devotees," Shivpal said in Etah.
In Lucknow, both Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav condemned the "politics being played" over the incident.
"The incident is unfortunate. I condole the deaths due to stampede in Allahabad. Politics should not be played on the issue," Mulayam said.
He said the state government has provided best possible facilities for the Maha Kumbh and will continue to do so.
Mulayam also asked the state government to provide maximum possible compensation to the victims.
In the aftermath of the tragic incident, a blame-game between the Centre and the state government had erupted over what had triggered the stampede at Allahabad junction.
While the state government had blamed the Railway Ministry at the Centre, Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had held "poor crowd management" by the local administration responsible for the incident.
PTI
