New Delhi/Chandigarh, Nov. 10 -- The sudden surge in farm fires in Punjab triggered a political blame-game, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Delhi government alleging a tenfold increase in farm fires on Diwali, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which governs Punjab, accused it of deflecting attention from its failure to curb firecracker use in Delhi. At a press conference on Monday, Delhi cabinet minister Kapil Mishra described the sudden spike in stubble-burning incidents on Diwali as "suspicious" and urged Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann to order an investigation and register FIRs wherever fields were deliberately set on fire. Mishra said the Delhi government had examined satellite data showing a sharp rise in reported fire locations in Punjab on Diwali compared with the preceding three days. "Satellite data showed around 100 to 125 fire incidents each on November 5, 6 and 7, while the figure rose to nearly 1,200 on November 8," he said. Responding to allegations, AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Pannu accused the BJP of repeatedly targeting and defaming Punjab's farmers to divert attention from its own administrative failures in tackling Delhi's pollution crisis. Pannu said that even before the paddy harvesting began, BJP leaders had started blaming Punjab for Delhi's pollution, despite the state achieving nearly 90% control over stubble burning incidents this year. "To cover up the gas chamber-like conditions in Delhi during Diwali and their own administrative failures, BJP leaders are making baseless allegations every day," he alleged. Describing BJP minister Kapil Mishra's claim of 1,200 stubble burning incidents in Punjab overnight as "completely baseless", the AAP leader said that if there was any truth to Mishra's claims, he should seek answers from his own cabinet colleague, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who had been making statements about smoke coming from Punjab for several days. "Punjab has achieved nearly 90% control over incidents of stubble burning this year, while 80% reduction was recorded last year. Evidence of this is available in the central government's reply recorded in the official proceedings of Parliament," he claimed....