BJP, Cong come to blows at Gandhinagar municipal corporation office

Gandhinagar: On Tuesday, Gandhinagar Mayor Pravin Patel, deputy mayor Devendrasinh Chavda, and chairman of the standing committee of Gandhinagar municipal corporation (GMC) Manu Patel, got into a physical fight with Congress corporators.

This comes just four days after the BJP grabbed power at the GMC by engineering the defection of Congress member Pravin Patel with the promise of support him in the election for Mayor.

Mayor Pravin Patel and Congress leaders, including Nishit Vyas, filed counter-complaints with the police alleging assault and attempt to murder.

Pravin Patel alleged that when he along with Manubhai Patel and others came to office at around 12.00 noon, Congress corporators and the officer-bearers of the party's city and district units attacked them with the motive to kill them. "They had come planning to attack us. I have registered a complaint against 6 Congress leaders for assault and attempt to kill me," said the Mayor

Senior Congress leader Nishit Vyas, against whom the Mayor has filled a police complaint, said that Patel and his "goons" had attacked them allegedly on the instructions of ministers when they went to complain about various civic issues.

"Kailashben, a woman Congress worker, and six other women members, sustanined serious injuries. The attackers did not spare even women. We asked the police to register our FIR but they took it just a simple complaint. The Mayor has brought disgrace to the chair and he must resign immediately," said Vyas.

Gandhinagar police on Tuesday rounded up four persons - Nishit Vyas, Suryasinh Dabhi, Shailendrasinh Bihola and Kaushik Shah - for assault on Patel.