A FIRE broke out at a Lord Ganesh pandal in Pune where BJP President J P Nadda was offering prayers along with the party’s Maharashtra unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday evening,. Visuals from the scene showed Nadda being safely escorted out of the venue even as the fire engulfed the top portion of the makeshift pandal in the Lokmanya Nagar area in the heart of the city. No casualty was reported in the incident. A fire brigade official said the blaze may have been caused by fireworks at the pandal set up by the Sane Guruji Ganesh Mitra Mandal. Pune city BJP President Dhiraj Ghare and security personnel were seen taking Nadda safely out of the pandal, a replica of Ujjain’s famous Mahakaleshwar Temple.

 

As soon as the fire broke out, rains started in the area which helped douse the flames. Nadda visited the famed Lalbaugcha Raja for a darshan of the imposing Lord Ganesh idol there on his trip to Mumbai and Pune for the ongoing Ganeshotsav festival. Accompanied by State Party President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, city chief Ashish Shelar, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and others, Nadda went to the Lalbaug, performed aarti and offered prayers.