Fire broke out at the Mainam Cultural Centre in Yangyang, south Sikkim, late on Friday evening, igniting a blame game between the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and the Opposition Sikkim Democratic Front.

Police are yet to ascertain the cause of fire that gutted the main building of the centre, located 55km from Gangtok.

However, the SDF accused the SKM government of being behind the incident as part of its larger design to wipe out the legacy of previous SDF governments. The ruling SKM alleged the incident appears to be the handiwork of its opponent to derail development.

The centre was built by the SDF government headed by former chief minister Pawan Chamling to showcase the state’s heritage. The SKM government had recently handed over the property to the Sikkim Film Promotion Board to develop it as a film city.

SDF spokesman Avinash Yakha alleged the fire was planned in a bid to hand over the property to a private player in the guise of a public-private partnership and wipe out the history of the previous government. Jacob Khaling, SKM chief spokesman, insinuated the involvement of Yakha in the incident and said his role would be probed.

“This is an attempt to stop the development work taking place in Yangyang…The cultural centre was leased out for free to the family members of SDF by the previous government, and after we came to power, we terminated the contract,” he said.

L. N. Sharma, Sikkim’s minister for information and public relations under whose department the film board falls, visited the gutted centre on Saturday and said an FIR has been lodged at the Yangyang police station and the matter was under investigation. The culprit will be arrested and strict action shall be initiated, a release issued by his department quoted him as saying.