City Mayor P. Sravanthi adjourned the municipal council meeting abruptly on Monday amid ugly scenes as irate YSR Congress Party corporators created a ruckus when she sought to know from officials the rule position on hanging portraits of the Chief Minister and other dignitaries in the council hall.
The Mayor faced a harrowing time as a group of YSRCP corporators surrounded her podium and tore copies of documents given to them during the Council meeting in protest. The YSRCP corporators demanded her resignation as Mayor as well as an unconditional apology from her.
Sensing that the situation was going out of control, the Mayor announced adjournment of the House for some time. Ms. Sravanthi alleged that at this juncture, she was pushed and her saree was pulled off in the melee. Police personnel had a tough time escorting her out of the Council hall safely as angry YSRCP corporators tried to physically stop her from exiting.
Following a suggestion from Deputy Mayor Roopkumar Yadav, the Mayor later made a statement in the House. ‘‘I am happy having the portrait of the Chief Minister in the Council. I myself have a picture of the Chief Minister in my chambers,” she said after the council meeting resumed after a break. Following this, order returned to the House.
The Mayor later lodged a complaint with the Dargamitta police against YSRCP corporators M. Gouri Reddy, B. Srinivas Yadav and B. Vijayabhaskara Reddy for their alleged ‘unruly behaviour’. She said she would draw the attention of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to the ugly scenes that were witnessed in the house and seek justice for herself, she told the media later.