Fight at NMC council meeting over CM's portrait

 TIRUPATI: There was bedlam at the meeting of Nellore Municipal Corporation on Monday after Mayor Potluri Sravanthi, a supporter of suspended YSR Congress MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar, objected to the placing of a portrait of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the council hall.

There were unruly scenes as rival groups of the ruling YSRC corporators resorted to sloganeering and shoutings against each other. The meeting saw heated arguments between the mayor’s group and the YSRC corporators.

Tension prevailed for some time as corporators M. Gowri, Srinivasa Yadav and Moole Vijayabhaskar allegedly tried to obstruct the mayor from entering her chamber, after she postponed the meeting.

The YSRC corporators tried to enter her chamber, demanding an explanation from her for her objection to the CM’s portrait in the council hall.

Mayor Sravanthi clarified that her objection was not over the placing of the portrait, but how it was placed without her knowledge.

“The ruling party corporators tried to obstruct me while entering my chamber. They show no respect for a woman from the ST community even as she’s the mayor and leading the council. They have been constantly trying to put me in trouble. I will lodge a complaint with the ST Commission,” mayor Sravanthi said.

A group of YSRC corporators led by the mayor took out a rally from the corporation office to the Dargamitta police station. The mayor lodged a complaint with police against the corporators Bobbala, Gowri and Rajasekhar Reddy, saying they obstructed her entry to her chamber and even tried to assault her.

Supporting the mayor, followers of rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy rushed to the police station and demanded action against the “unruly” corporators.