AIADMK councillors evict rivals in ugly fracas

MADURAI: The corporation council meeting here saw yet another ugly fight between the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK councillors, on Friday. Similar to what happened during the last meet, the ruling party members threw eatables and water bottles on their rivals who provoked them by wearing black shirts. Twelve DMK councillors, who refused to leave the halls were evicted by force by police and corporation guards and one among them, M Kannan (ward 91), was suspended for two meetings. In the melee, a mike and furniture were damaged.
The fracas commenced as soon as DMK councillors led by their floor leader M L Raj entered the hall when the AIADMK zone chairman was about to finish his speech. Even as they entered, mayor V V Rajan Chellappa protested their entry pointing out that they were wearing black shirts. But the DMK councillors occupied their seats following which the mayor ordered them to leave. However, as they refused to leave, the mayor ordered the guards to evict them. Police were summoned when they remained defiant angering the ruling councillors who started throwing eatables and water bottles on the opposition members. One of the bottles fell on DMK's woman councillor, G Rajeswari (ward 84) hurting her on the shoulder.
As the DMK councillors were being dragged out from the hall, some AIADMK members climbed on the tables and chairs to break the DMK name board. One of them fell on a chair.
As the victorious AIADMK councillors settled down to continue the meeting after the battle, Kannan entered the hall unwittingly searching for his lost mobile phone. AIADMK councillors tried to fix the blame for the damaged mike upon Kannan by raising the matter with the mayor who ordered his suspension for two council meetings. "I only came looking for my mobile phone," the shocked councillor said as he was guided out, by the guards.
The AIADMK councillors then demanded action against the other DMK councillors charging them for damages. "We will go through the videos and take appropriate action against the others involved," the mayor said while continuing the meeting.
"The ultimate aim of the mayor is to evict us and black shirts are just a reason. If we come in regular attire for the next meeting, will the mayor allow us to speak in the council? We have not damaged anything in the hall, but the AIADMK councillors who were keen on evicting us damaged everything and blamed us later," Raj claimed.