Councillors of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to blows following a verbal spat in a house meeting of North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Monday. The meeting was organised at the historic Town Hall in Chandni Chowk, which was the headquarters of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

A video of the meeting shows BJP councillor from Bhalswa, Surender Singh Khrub, appearing to hit AAP’s councillor from Wazirpur, Vikas Goel. Later, AAP councillors heckling the BJP leaders and demanding Khrub’s suspension can also be seen in the video.

North civic body Mayor Adesh Gupta has assured that appropriate action will be taken against the culprits after a probe into the matter.

Leader of the House Tilak Raj Kataria initiated the discussion on a proposal to bring several departments such as Delhi Jal Board under the civic body. The departments, which are now controlled by the Delhi government, were once under the civic body.

Leader of the opposition Anil Lakda, opposed the proposal saying it will lead to chaos since the corporation was already struggling to manage its affairs. This led to a ruckus.

As BJP councillors interrupted Lakda, AAP’s Goel got up from his seat and asked the BJP members, including Khrub, to sit down and let Lakda finish his speech.

This led to a verbal duel between the councillors. The BJP councillors raised anti-Kejriwal slogans and the AAP leaders shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Soon, the members came to blows.

“Khrub not only punched me but also threatened me. I was just signalling them to sit down and allow a peaceful conversation. This is shameful that BJP has resorted to these tactics to muzzle the opposition’s voice,” Goel said.

Khrub rejected the allegations and said that it was the AAP councillors who started the arguments and raised slogans against Modi.“Vikas came close to my seat and started abusing me. He started the argument. I was just defending myself,” Khurb said.

Lakda demanded Khrub’s suspension from the House.

“We want Khrub to be suspended so that an example can be set for the other councillors. We will not participate in any of the House and standing committee meetings until Khrub is suspended,” Lakda said.

Mayor Gupta said violence was “unfortunate”. “Councillors should not resort to violent means. Who provoked who is a matter of investigation. All the videos will be checked and both the parties would be called to present their versions. Appropriate action will be taken against the guilty only after thorough probe,” Gupta said.

Senior Congress leader Mukesh Goel said that this was for the first time when the councillors resorted to violence in the House.

First Published: Dec 25, 2018 11:46 IST