Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi alleges attack by BJP councillors, files police complaint

Hours after fresh clashes between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councilors rocked the municipal hall, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday alleged that several members of the saffron party caused the life-threatening attack on her.

In a press conference, she claimed that her colleague Ashu Thakur was also assaulted by another BJP councillor. The BJP did not immediately respond. Shortly before the media interaction at the Civic Centre, the Mayor adjourned the House and announced that the six-member standing committee elections of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) would be held again on February 27 at 11 am.

AAP MLA Atishi alleged that Thakura held her scarf and dragged him from the dais to one of the exit gates of the House. “We will go to the Kamla market police station and file a case of life-threatening assault on Mayor Shelly Oberoi and our other councillors,” said Atishi. Scenes of uproar and high-decibel protests by BJP councilors were witnessed in the House after Oberoi declared that one vote cast during the MCD standing committee elections on Friday was "invalid".

Bedlam in the House turned into total pandemonium and violent clashes broke out between many AAP and BJP councillors. Mayor Oberoi had barely started announcing the results when the ruckus started. “When I was announcing the standing committee election result, they (BJP councillors) pushed my chair and attacked me. BJP councillors Ravi Negi, Arjun Marwah, Chandan Choudhary and others inflicted life-threatening attack on me,” she alleged.

She said ballot papers used on Friday have been “torn” and lost so as a moral responsibility, fresh election will be held for picking the six members of the MCD panel. In a tweet late Friday night, the mayor said, “Requested an urgent appointment with the @DelhiPolice Commissioner tomorrow regarding the attack on me by BJP Councillors in the MCD House!”

Responding to the request, a senior officer of the Delhi Police said they have received the mayor’s complaint and that further action will be taken accordingly. “When women are not safe inside the municipal House, how can they be safe in Delhi? I have filed a complaint against three BJP councillors and others, and sought police protection,” Oberoi told reporters.

Atishi alleged that what BJP members did on Friday was akin to “booth capturing..the BJP must accept its defeat in the MCD polls. They should not try to use violence to get back door entry into (MCD) governance,” she said. The mayor also alleged that the ruckus on Friday amounted to disrespect of the House and the chair of the mayor, and was “sheer hooliganism”.

Ashu Thakur, later talking to reporters, said her scarf was wrapped around her neck. “I was dragged by the scarf from the dais to an exit door, and if the cloth had tightened longer, it could have suffocated me to death,” she added.

Later, AAP supporters held a protest outside the Kamla Market Police Station. AAP leader Durgesh Pathak denied any confrontation with the city police. He, however, accused Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of being the “sutradar” (conspirator) of the ruckus in the municipal House.