The Salem Municipal Corporation’s council meeting on Wednesday witnessed noisy scenes and a scuffle between councillors.
AIADMK councillors beat up DMK Councillor V. Deivalingam of Ward 10 and pushed him out of the meeting hall. Eight other DMK councillors were also necked out.
In protest, the DMK councillors staged a road roko, disrupting traffic.
Stating that Mr. Deivalingam was involved in frequent disruption of the house, the Mayor S. Soundappan suspended him for two meetings. As soon as the session began, the Mayor read out a special resolution hailing Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for overcoming the hurdles and returning as the Chief Minister.
The 51-member AIADMK camp expressed its delight by thumping the desk continuously for more than 10 minutes when Mr. Deivalingam interrupted demanding discussion on people’s problem. This angered the AIADMK councillors who beat him up with water bottles and pushed him out of the hall.
Mr. Deivalingam told reporters that the police were mute spectators when the councillors beat him. When the session was in progress, relatives of Mr. Deivalingam entered the house and argued with Mayor and questioned how they could beat him.
Later, the DMK councillors, led by former Panamarathupatty MLA and DMK Central District unit in-charge R. Rajendran, blocked the road. Mr. Rajendran demanded action against those who had attacked the DMK councillors. Mr. Deivalingam was admitted to Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital for treatment. As chaos prevailed in the premises, police personnel were posted for security.
Alleging that they were attacked by DMK councillors, AIADMK councillors, K. Bama (Ward 8), M. Madhalana (Ward 12), A. Mariyappan (Ward 25) and N. Jamuna Rani (Ward 26) got admitted to Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital. Sources said that the corporation is planning to lodge a police complaint.
Suspended earlier
Mr. Deivalingam was suspended from the house for three meetings in November, 2014 when he opposed councillors praising ‘Amma’ saying that a convicted person in the disproportionate wealth case name should not be mentioned at the meeting. He obtained a court order and participated in the meeting held in January wearing a helmet. In February, 2015 meeting, he opposed the council hailing Ms. Jayalalithaa as the people’s Chief Minister on her 67th birthday and was placed under suspension for two meetings.
