Group rivalry in the Congress surfaced yet again here on Friday, when a few people, who identified themselves as supporters of Housing Minister M.H. Ambareesh, allegedly attacked and prevented a member of the Mandya City Municipal Council from attending the party meeting.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) observer Narayanappa, who chaired the meeting, remained a mute spectator, when Congress councillor N. Anilkumar representing Guthalu Ward was manhandled at the residence of Mr. Ambareesh in Chamundeshwari Nagar here.
Mr. Ambareesh was not at home when the incident took place.
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Leaders identified with Mr. Ambareesh had been trying to remove CMC president B. Siddaraju and vice-president Chandrakala Shivaram from their posts. They decided to bring in a ‘no-confidence’ motion against Mr. Siddaraju and Ms. Shivaram. They had recently sought the support of Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy. Following these developments, the KPCC had sent Mr. Narayanappa to collect the opinions of party leaders here. However, councillors identified with Mr. Siddaraju were not invited to the meeting. Mr. Anilkumar arrived at the venue of the meeting and expressed his displeasure over not being invited. Later, some people attacked him and dragged him out of the venue.