New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday reached the Palam fire incident spot to meet the victim’s family members and alleged that BJP workers were “creating ruckus and misbehaving.” Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accused Kejriwal of making baseless allegations, and claimed that party’s local MLA Kuldeep Solanki was assaulted by the AAP leaders and workers.
Kejriwal alleged lapses in firefighting systems, saying that timely action could have saved lives.
“We are hearing that the fire brigade did not arrive on time, and their hydraulic lift was also not functioning. If timely action had been taken, many lives could have been saved,” the AAP national convenor told reporters.
“I had come to meet the grieving families and express my condolences, but here BJP goons were creating a ruckus and misbehaving instead of showing sympathy. They are intimidating the victim family members,” Kejriwal said.
A family that has lost 9 people is being threatened and intimidated. My demand is that this incident be impartially investigated, he added.
Sachdeva said that since the fire broke out yesterday morning, it has been publicly known as stated by neighbours and eyewitnesses that the lower floors of the building housed godowns and shops where large quantities of inflammable materials were stored.
These materials caught fire, and within moments, the blaze spread throughout the entire building. Many deaths had already occurred before the fire brigade arrived.
He said it was unfortunate that the AAP leaders including Kejriwal were blaming the fire brigade to divert attention from the core issue of storage of inflammable materials in the building.
BJP MLA from Palam, Kuldeep Solanki alleged that Bharadwaj and his party workers tried to create chaos during the condolence meet held to pay homage to the victims of fire incident.
“They have little sympathy towards those who passed away and their kin. Since yesterday they were indulging in petty politics,” Solanki said.
Their only objective is to take political mileage out of this tragedy, he charged.
Solanki also claimed that the AAP workers and supporters attacked him and he will lodge a police complaint against him.
A scuffle broke out between AAP and BJP workers forcing the police to intervene and separate both the groups.
Ex-AAP MLA from Dwarka, Vinay Mishra who was at the spot since morning said that he was “attacked” by BJP members.
“About 40–50 bouncers and goons close to the local MLA have started throwing chairs to spoil the atmosphere. They are saying that if CM Rekha Gupta hasn’t come, how can Arvind Kejriwal come first?” he said in a post on X. PTI SSM VIT NB
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