There was high drama at the tree authority meeting in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday, when Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) members had a face-off.

NCP corporator and TA member Kaptan Malik claimed that Sena members started abusing and threatening him. After the meeting, Malik complained to the Mumbai police commissioner, and was given security.

The tiff between the two parties has intensified in the past three weeks as Malik was among those who supported the tree-cutting proposal, while his party had earlier opposed the development of Metro line 3 car depot in Aarey Milk Colony. Since the proposal to cut 2,646 trees was approved, it has seen a large number of objections. The Shiv Sena has opposed the proposal.