BJP-Cong tiff in Bellary CMC hits flashpoint

bellary: it was a heightened midnight drama when the police swooped down on the residence of municipal council vice-president gaali somasekhar reddy at havambhavi here on tuesday to arrest him. the police were acting on a complaint lodged by the secretary of manava abhivandana seva samithi g.shyamkumar. along with reddy, local bjp leader sreeramulu and others were also wanted by the police in the alleged demolition of a hostel building last month situated near the bandihatti village main road.the police team landed at reddy''s house at around 10.30 p.m., but after a highly charged atmosphere they had to return without making any arrests as an angry mob resisted police action. it was alleged that the police were acting on the orders of local congress leaders. shyamkumar himself is a congress supporter. it was further alleged that the municipality had demolished the hostel building on february 10. shyamkumar added, the reconstructed building was once again demolished by the civic body on march 3. shyamkumar in his complaint stated that vice-president somasekhar reddy had instigated the municipal staff to raze the building. complaints were also lodged against a local bjp leader, councillors and municipal employees. the intriguing thing is that the accused have denied demolishing a structure, saying there was no hostel building at the said place any time. the accused, somasekhar reddy and sreeramulu lodged a counter-complaint against local congress leaders accusing them of attacking councillor rajkumar. when the police swooped down on reddy''s residence, he said he was ready to give himself up only if the police took similar action in the complaint lodged by them. he resisted the police, resulting in heated exchanges between them. when supporters of sreeramulu and reddy assembled outside the house the situation seemed to be getting out of control, and the police ordered more forces to be deployed to control the situation. the drama ended at around 3 a.m., with the police stalled by an angry mob, returned without making any arrests. g.karunakar reddy, district bjp president has demanded the immediate suspension of dysp s.v.sirsi. karunakar alleged sirsi was acting at the behest of a local minister. he further alleged it was a conspiracy to arrest reddy so that he could not attend the budget session of municipal council slated for friday. karunakar warned if the government did not take action against the dysp, the bjp would launch agitations and dharnas including a bellary bandh.