VIJAYAWADA: Tension prevailed for a while in the VMC council meeting after mayor Koneru Sreedhar suspended five YSRC corporators for participating in the council meet by wearing kanduva (Upper garment) with their party symbols and politician’s photographs. The issue was raised when YSRC corporator Bulla Vijaya Kumar and four other corporators entered into an argument with the VMC’s TDP floor leader G Hari Babu over installing Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue in division number 50. This irked Hari Babu and he asked the YSRC corporator to discuss the issue only after removing the kanduva. Vijaya Kumar refused to do it and argued with ruling party corporators.
Sensing the trouble, mayor Sreedhar suspended the council meeting for 45 minutes and directed the marshals to shift the YSRC corporators from the council hall. Later, the corporators staged a protest outside the council hall and raised slogans against the indifferent attitude of the mayor. “I have requested the mayor to allocate land for installing BR Ambedkar’s statue in my division,” he said.