No One "Apologised" For Gujarat Bridge Tragedy: P Chidambaram Slams BJP

Ahead of the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday hit out at the BJP over its "arrogance", saying no one so far has apologised or resigned for the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy which claimed 135 lives.

Mr Chidambaram, who was in Ahmedabad to campaign for his party, also claimed that Gujarat was being "run from Delhi" and not by the chief minister of the state.

The Gujarat Assembly polls will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.

On October 30, a suspension bridge on the Machchuu river in Gujarat's Morbi district collapsed, claiming 135 lives.

Mr Chidambaram said, "As per my knowledge nobody has apologised or resigned for such a big tragedy. This is due to the BJP's arrogance. If such a thing would have happened in a foreign country, there would have been immediate resignations." 

"They have not apologised as the government here thinks they will easily win the coming elections and they need not be accountable for the incident ," he said.

"In those states where people defeat the government, they feel accountable. I would appeal to the people of Gujarat to change this government and give a chance to the Congress," he said.

Asked if he thinks central probe agencies like the CBI and ED were being misused, Chidambaram claimed that "they are handmaidens of the BJP. Ninety five per cent of the arrests they are making are of politicians of opposition parties."

On the issue BJP-ruled states announcing the formation of committees to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the Congress leader said, "Even a child knows that states cannot implement it, it can be done by Parliament. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)