Bawana Fire: BJP defends Mayor Preeti Aggarwal

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Manoj Tiwari on Sunday defended North Delhi Mayor Preeti Aggarwal, who was caught on camera cautioning the officials from speaking against the firecracker factory fire in Delhi's Bawana Industrial Area, calling the video "fake".

Tiwari, while talking to ANI, said that Aggarwal was quoted out of context to tarnish the image of the party.

"Preeti Aggarwal was asking the officials under whom does the factory come. The conversation is not clear, only 'ye factory' is clear. People are trying to make that fake video viral at a sad time just to blame the BJP", he said.

The Delhi BJP chief also hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for re-tweeting the video and sought his apology "for such low-level politics in the time of despair".

Another BJP leader OP Sharma also said that the matter should not be politicised and priority should be to provide relief to the people.

"The matter should not be politicised. People should take a lesson from this for future references", Sharma said.

"The party will see to the statement made by Aggarwal", he said.

A massive fire broke out at a firecracker unit in outer Delhi's Bawana industrial area, killing 17 people and injuring two on Saturday evening.

Aggarwal, who visited the spot to take stock of the situation, was heard telling the officials before talking to ANI, "Is factory ki license humare paas hai, isliye kuch nahi bol sakte. (The license of this factory is with us, so we should not speak against it)".