Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday admitted that the Asansol stampede during blanket distribution could have been averted had there been proper preparedness.

Adhikari was the chief guest at the event where three people were killed and five injured in the stampede.

“There was a lack of preparedness. Had there been civic volunteers, police and volunteers, the situation could have been averted, “ Adhikari said.

“There were a lot of people and the space was small,” he added.

In his initial reaction on Wednesday evening, the Nandigram MLA tried to pass the buck to the West Burdwan district administration as he said all police personnel, including civic volunteers, were withdrawn from the venue as soon as he had left.

On Thursday, his approach, however, changed. Several BJP insiders said pressure from within the party prompted him to comment on the tragedy in a more objective manner.

Multiple BJP sources told this correspondent that the incident had come as an embarrassment for the party. Although the event wasn’t organised under the BJP’s banner, almost the entire unit of the Asansol organisational district of the party was present at the event.

“BJP councillor Chaitali Tiwari had signed the letter of intimation sent to Asansol police on December 3, informing them about the event. Her husband and former Asansol mayor Jitendra Tiwari was conducting the event. We cannot simply pass the buck to the state administration,” said a BJP insider.

The fact that the state BJP unit was in no mood to take an aggressive posture on the tragedy became clear early in the day when the BJP’s national vice president, Dilip Ghosh, said the organisers should have been more careful. “One shouldn’t be depending completely on the police. It is also the responsibility of the organisers to ensure that everything is alright,” Ghosh said.

Ghosh even went to the extent of condemning the event and questioned whether it was proper to organise such a distribution programme.

Other party sources echoed Ghosh’s comment. Multiple BJP sources, speaking to this correspondent in private, said that the event was planned as a show of strength and things went out of hand as the turnout was much more than what the organisers had expected.

“Both Jitendra Tiwari andSuvendu Adhikari have to share responsibility for this incident. Even if we agree that the police are to be blamed, how can the organisers deny that they failed to estimate how many people would turn up?” a BJP leader in Asansolasked.

Adhikari has said he will visit Asansol and meet the bereaved families and injured persons soon. Many in the BJP asked what stopped him from doing so till now.