Suicide bid by three Bengaluru women civic corporators

Bengaluru: Blaming interference by a Congress legislator, three women civic corporators allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming phenyl at a meeting of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council here, said an official on Monday.

The corporators are Asha Suresh, 40, of the Congress, Mamata Vasudev, 40, of the BJP and Manjula Narayanaswamy, 37, of the JD-S.

“We are fed up with the interference of Congress lawmaker Munirathna Naidu in the development works in our area,” Asha, who represents the HMT civic ward, told reporters later.

Naidu, 49, represents the ruling party from the Rajarajeshwarinagar assembly segment.

The incident occurred when Mayor G. Padmavathi refused to allow these corporators to raise the issue of Naidu’s interference in their civic works.

“Upset with the Mayor’s refusal, the trio rushed to the well of the Council and tried to gulp phenyl, which they brought to the meeting in bottles,” said a Palike official.

Other corporators, however, thwarted their attempt by snatching away the bottles from their hands, and persuaded them to resume seats and stay calm.

“It has become difficult for me to put up with Naidu’s harassment. He is provoking his supporters to attack me. On May 19, his supporters pulled my saree in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,” claimed Manjula, who represents the Laggare civic ward.

Siddaramaiah was delivering a speech after laying the foundation for remodeling the storm water drain in Naidu’s assembly segment when the alleged attack on Manjula took place.

“I was shocked that none came to my rescue when Naidu’s women supporters assaulted me and pulled my saree. There is no safety for women corporators in his area,” she alleged.