In the continuing saga of political mudslinging, the ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka found themselves involved in a heated verbal tussle after a fire broke out at the quality control laboratory within the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) headquarters on Friday, August 11. Nine employees, including the BBMP chief engineer, were injured and rushed to hospital for treatment.
The fire accident led to a war of words between the two rival parties, with accusations and counter-accusations flying. The Congress wasted no time in labelling the fire as a possible conspiracy, insinuating that the BJP might have a hand in the incident. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) posted a tweet on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), alleging, “It is not an accident but a criminal conspiracy. The BJP is conspiring to safeguard itself by burning evidence of its corruption.” However, the party soon deleted the tweet after it came to light that the fire had originated in the BBMP laboratory, not in the vicinity of important documents.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who also heads the Congress state unit, distanced himself from the controversial tweet, stating that he did not approve its content. “The Congress party might have tweeted it, but I cannot accept that tweet. I got it withdrawn soon after I learned about it. Some boys have done it,” he said.
Despite Shivakumar’s efforts to quell the controversy, senior BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal fired back at the Congress, accusing the ruling party of orchestrating the fire to divert attention from their alleged inability to substantiate corruption allegations against the BJP. He criticised the Congress for making hasty accusations and then retracting them when challenged. “The unbridled inept people write whatever comes to their mind and when we question their authenticity, they delete the tweet and run away,” he said.
ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸರ್ಕಾರ , ನಿಮ್ಮ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಹಾಗು ನಿಮ್ಮದೇ ಆಡಳಿತ.
— Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (@BasanagoudaBJP) August 11, 2023
ಬೆಂಕಿ ಹಚ್ಚುವ ಕೆಲಸ ನಿಮ್ಮದೇ ಇರಬೇಕು? ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಕಡತಗಳನ್ನು ರಕ್ಷಿಸಲು ಆಗದ ಸರ್ಕಾರವೇ?
40% ಆರೋಪ ಸಾಬೀತು ಮಾಡಲಾರದೆ, ನೀವೇ ಬೆಂಕಿ ಹಚ್ಚಿರಬೇಕು.
ಬಿಬಿಎಂಪಿಗೆ ಬೆಂಕಿ ಬಿದ್ದಿದೆ ಎಂದರೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಕೈಲಾಗದ ಆಡಳಿತಕ್ಕೆ ಹಿಡಿದ ಕನ್ನಡಿ. https://t.co/HnMJvoUZNb
The timing of the fire accident is noteworthy, as it happened days after the Congress government ordered Special Investigation Teams (SIT) to probe allegations of financial irregularities related to BBMP contracts during the previous BJP administration.
DK Shivakumar said that three inquiries will take place simultaneously – one is the departmental inquiry by the BBMP, the second is a police investigation, and the third by the Electrical Inspectorate to investigate whether the fire happened due to a short circuit.