Fire at Rahul Gandhi roadshow in Madhya Pradesh as gas balloons explode

Panic erupted briefly at the roadshow of Rahul Gandhi in Jabalpur on Saturday when heliumfilled balloons burst into flames some distance away from the vehicle of the Congress president police said Nobody was injured in the incident they saidWhen Gandhi was leading the campaign event in pollbound Madhya Pradesh a bunch of helium balloons held by a political worker touched oil lamps that another was holding for performing aarti of the Congress chiefA video of the incident shows that Gandhi was standing in the open vehicle accompanied by security personnel while people lined up on both sides of the road when a huge flame went up suddenly which startled the Congress chiefThe clip shows that some Congress workers were holding a plate with an oil lamp to welcome Gandhi when a bunch of balloons that was supposed to be released in air came into contact with the lamp and burst into flamesConfirming the incident Jabalpur Superintendent of Police Amit Singh Sunday ruled out any security lapse saying the incident occurred about 15feet away from the security ring of policeThere would have been lapse if the incident had occurred inside the security ring but it occurred around 15feet away Nobody was injured in the incident though there was a flame due to helium gas in the balloon Singh saidHe said the person who wanted to welcome Gandhi is identified as Kaudi Lal Rai a Congress block president who has been associated with the party for the last 30 years as a workerRai wanted to welcome Gandhi Some Congress workers were standing near him with balloons in their hands The balloons came into contact with the lamp and a huge flame went up the police officer saidResponding to a query on how heliumfilled balloons were allowed at the event of Gandhi an SPGprotectee Singh pointed out that the Blue Book security guidelines doesnt mention that such balloons or the aarti plate are not allowedOne can obviously be startled if a balloon bursts near one even in a birthday party he saidThe Congress president started the 8km long road show from Abdul Hamid ChowkThe route of the roadshow covered three assembly constituencies Jabalpur West Jabalpur North Central and Jabalpur East SCCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever