Kejriwal, BJP trade barbs on Palam fire

Kejriwal claims BJP workers blocked him from meeting fire victims' family, while BJP alleges AAP misbehavior. Both parties demand investigations.

New Delhi

AAP leaders at the site of the fire. (HT Photo)

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he was stopped by workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on his way to Palam Colony, to meet the family of fire victims. The BJP denied the allegations and instead, said that AAP leaders attempted to disrupt the atmosphere and misbehaved with BJP legislators.

Demanding a thorough probe, Kejriwal alleged that BJP workers blocked access, pushed AAP leaders and threw furniture at them in a bid to block them from meeting the grieving family.

Kejriwal said, “I had gone to Palam to meet the victim’s family, but BJP karyakartas stopped us from meeting them, misbehaved with us and threw chairs. The government’s failure and negligence have taken nine lives. And on top of that, these people are doing goondagardi at the house of a grieving family? This is the height of inhumanity.”

He said the tragedy exposed a collapse of governance. “This is a very painful incident. I have been informed that the fire brigade vehicle reached late, and even when it reached the spot, its lift was not working,” he said.

Hitting back, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that AAP’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj assaulted BJP MLA Kuldeep Solanki. “It is unfortunate that Kejriwal and Saurabh Bharadwaj have, since Wednesday, have been blaming the fire brigade to divert attention from the core issue of storage of inflammable materials.”