Bengaluru: At a time when the city is at the verge of facing severe water shortage and is already plagued by garbage menace, BBMP council which was expected to debate these issues and find ways to resolve them, turned into a battleground where Congress and BJP corporators engaged in push and pull leaving at least five corporators with minor injuries in the act.
On Tuesday, ruling Congress party corporators and opposition BJP party locked their horns leading to adjournment of the council meet abruptly leaving many crucial issues to be discussed in the next meet.
The bone of contention for the fight was that Congress corporator G K Venkatesh addressed BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa singularly.
BJP corporator Umesh Shetty who demanded ‘khatas’ be issued to all the slum dwellers in the city and started to read out the figures of khatas being issued illegally in R R Nagar BBMP zone.
Taking objection to this, G K Venkatesh demanded Umesh to give figures of illegal khatas being issued in all BBMP zones and not just R R Nagar. While this was going on, Venkatesh flaunted a CD and threatened to release it and stated “This CD is not like the poor dairy which BJP party president B S Yeddyurappa is using as a tool to tarnish the image of Congress party.”
BJP corporators who were irked by this remark, gathered at the well of the council hall and demanded suspension of Venkatesh for his remark against their party leader and this lead to chaos and the session was adjourned.
When the council gathered BJP corporators protested and demanded suspension of Venkatesh and this led to push and pull among the corporators injuring Congress corporators Roopa R, Ms Irshad Begum and Abdul Wajid.
The unruly behaviour of the corporators irked BBMP Mayor G Padmavathi to remark “Instead of discussing about Bengaluru’s development, BJP party corporators have stooped to such low levels of indulging in fights just to get publicity. Nowhere Venkatesh had used any unparliamentary words and he cannot be suspended.”
Single point agenda of Congress corporators is to just create ruckus in the council. Do do they have any issue to rise for the welfare of the people? Even for the social issues we raise, they object to it?” said opposition party leader Padmanabha Reddy.
