Congress, Sena corporators come to blows in Thane

Congress and ruling Shiv Sena corporators came to blows on Thursday at the Babasaheb Ambedkar Sabhagriha of the Thane Municipal Corporation.

The two groups were arguing about who would take credit for condemning the incident at Ghatkopar in which two slippers were hung on the bust of Dr Ambedkar last week in Bombay and the killing of 10 people thereafter.

Ruling and opposition corporators abused each others in strong language, and finally came to blows. The security guards were summoned to remove the corporators from the hall.

Interestingly, the Congress, including some rebels, stood united against the Sena in the house.

The meeting began at 3 pm with hot words being traded by Sena and Congress corporators over the issue of the desecration of the bust.

The mayor ordered that the items on the agenda be taken up, and the secretary announced the start of the question answer session.

The leader of the opposition Subash Bhoir and Congress corporator B B More demanded that the adjournment motions be taken up first. The mayor refused.

Congress corporators Manoj Shinde, former mayor Ashok Raul, Suresh Jadhav and Narayan Pawar stood up and started shouting on top of their voices. The Sena corporators shouted back and pandemonium reigned.

As tempers grew more heated and the corporators took on each other, the lady corporators cordoned off the mayor, worried she may be beaten up.

After the fracas, the corporators dispersed, without condemning the incident at Ghatkopar after all. But the mayor and Suresh Jadhav both made it a point to condemn each other's party for the incident in the corporation premises.