Cuttack, Aug. 2: The Congress and the BJP today boycotted the all-party meeting, which was convened by mayor Minakshee Behera to resolve the unrest that had taken place during the civic body's council meet last week.

Claims and counter-claims have been made by the BJD on one side and the Congress and the BJP on another over the ruckus.

The Opposition parties today termed the all-party meeting mere eyewash and skipped it, which the mayor claimed was an effort to unite the members of all parties ahead of the next council meeting of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

"We had earlier served notices to all councillors of the 59 wards across the city to attend the all-party meeting at 11am today. Though we waited till 1pm, no councillor from the two Opposition parties turned up," said Behera.

Behera said efforts would continue to resolve the deadlock through talks, while disciplinary action would be taken if unruly scenes continued during the council meet to be held later in the week.

A commotion led to clash during the last council meeting after Congress councillor Giribala Behera had snubbed the BJD councillors for praising the corporation officials despite their failure in containing the dengue outbreak in the city.

Both councillors of the BJD and the Congress are now at loggerheads with either sides blaming their opponents responsible for the unrest during the July 29 meeting.

The Congress councillors were allegedly manhandled by a few BJD members during the discussion on dengue outbreak.

The BJD councillors, on the other hand, claimed that Congress councillor Arun Sethi had initially misbehaved with woman councillor Itishree Behera from their party - which made the situation go out of hand.

"They (BJD) have convened the meeting as they are now on the back foot and their real faces have been exposed. The BJD councillors have brutally assaulted and misbehaved with us. We boycotted the meeting as it was called by the mayor four days after the unrest," said Congress councillor from ward No. 4 Giribala Behera.

Behera also said the mayor should have called for an all-party meeting on the same day of the incident. Now, the ruckus has snowballed into a major controversy as councillors of either parties have lodged separate FIRs in connection with the incident.

BJP councillor from ward No. 48 Nirod Panda said they had earlier submitted a memorandum to the mayor, seeking immediate action against those involved in the pandemonium during the council meeting.

"Our party has decided to stage a demonstration at the corporation headquarters on August 4, seeking immediate action against the councillors of both the BJD and the Congress for gross indiscipline in the House," said Panda.