The Times of India      25.05.2010

JAIPUR: The infighting in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation touched a new low on Monday, when the Congress and BJP councillors got into an ugly fight near the office of mayor Jyoti Khandelwal.

BJP councillors alleged they were manhandled and pushed by the their Congress counterparts, and the police, while they were trying to enter the mayor’s chamber.

BJP councillor Rakhi Rathore told TOI a group of party’s women councillors wanted an audience with the mayor, as she has not been coming to the office since the last 10 days. “The mayor has turned tyrannical. Why did she have to call the police to push us away from the chamber?” she asked. Earlier, during the day, the Congress was staging a ‘dharna’ to demand the resignation of the deputy mayor Manish Pareek, over the FIR lodged against him by a councillor for faking his signature.

On the other hand, BJP’s motive behind sitting on the ‘dharna’ was to submit a memorandum to the mayor for constitution of the committiees as per the high court order.

As the mayor reached the JMC premises, the BJP councillors ‘gheraoed’ her. In no time, the Congress councillors reached the spot and started raising slogans against the BJP.

“We only wanted to make our stand clear and talk to her on several issues. The Congress councillors and the police misbehaved with us, including the women councillors ,” claimed Pareek.

Khandelwal rebutted all charges, and said “BJP has always acted in a rowdy way, both inside and outside the house. They stopped me from entering my own office, so I had to call the cops.”