Free-for-all in JMC over corruption charges

JAIPUR: The fighting in the JMC board meeting, which has become a regular affair these days, took a new low on Monday when councillors across party and gender exchanged blows, even as the mayor adjourned the meeting till October 21.
The day also saw a woman BJP member slapping a senior Congress councillor and the police entering the meeting to stop the scuffle.
Tension were brewing right from the beginning of the proceedings when a BJP member, Ridhikaran, was suspended from the council for half an hour for unruly behaviour. When the meeting resumed after a brief lunch session, discussions began on the 26 agendas set for the day. The majority BJP members voted against a tax proposal on marriage halls and regulation of mobile towers during a division of votes.
However, the real trouble started with a statement of senior Congress councillor Gulam Nabi, who levelled serious charges of corruption against former mayor Ashok Parnami and sitting BJP MLA from Malviya Nagar, Kalicharan Saraf. BJP members stood up to protest against the charges, which soon turned into fisticuffs. Leaving their respective seats, the councillors started exchanging blows while mayor Jyoti Khandelwal kept pleading to the members to calm down.
However, Nabi, while speaking on illegal constructions in the Walled City area, charged that both the leaders of the BJP had facilitated illegal construction, damaging the heritage value of the city. Meanwhile, as Gulam Nabi, who happens to be the senior-most councillor, made yet another provocative remark, Savita Marodia, a BJP councillor, slapped him. In another place, Umar Daraz, a Congress councillor, and Om Prakash Gujjar, a BJP member, picked up a one to one fight. Soon Daraz fell on the floor and was thrashed by some councillors. For some time, it was a free fall all with both groups daring each other.
In the end, the police had to be called to separate the fighting groups. Interestingly, this time women councillors too were quite aggressive like their male counterparts. Earlier in the day, the meeting had to be adjourned atleast thrice on petty issues.