The tug-of-war between Health Minister A Ramadoss and All-India Institute of Medical Sciences director P Venugopal took yet another bitter turn on Wednesday with the eminent cardiologist walking off without attending a meeting of the institute's governing body.

The General Body Meeting (GBM) in turn condemned him for not abiding by its decisions. The meeting of the AIIMS governing body at Nirman Bhawan began amid high drama as Venugopal arrived along with 15 faculty members and personal staff, insisting that they should also be allowed to attend the meet.

However, the security personnel said only those people whose names were present on a list of participants provided to them would be allowed to enter the meeting chaired by Ramadoss, who is also the AIIMS President.

Venugopal was, however, adamant that the people accompanying him should be allowed into the meeting as they headed various committees at AIIMS and would respond to various queries of the governing body.

After waiting for 20 minutes, Venugopal went back. The GBM, which proceeded in the absence of Venugopal, condemned him for "insubordination, indiscipline and disobedience."