Bengaluru, 24 May

Hitting out at the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka for the alleged "deteriorating law and order situation" in the State, the BJP termed the Silicon City as "Udta Bengaluru" and alleged the city is becoming the "adda" for narcotic substances and rave parties.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Friday said it was not right on the part of the opposition to say Bengaluru is becoming "Udta Bengaluru" and should not cast aspersions.

The development comes after the Bengaluru Police busted a rave party at a farmhouse here recently which was allegedly attended by 103 people. Of them, 86 individuals, including a Telugu film actress, tested positive for narcotics, according to police, citing medical tests.

Taking to 'X', the BJP has alleged that since the Congress government came to power in Karnataka, "immoral gatherings" were happening everywhere in Bengaluru.

"Law and order has deteriorated, government chaos has been exposed. After the Congress government came to power, immoral gatherings are happening everywhere in Bengaluru. Silicon City is now full of drugs, cannabis drug rave parties," BJP Karnataka said in a post in Kannada.

The BJP also used a poster featuring Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar with the hashtags #BadBengaluru and #CongressFailsKarnataka to hit out at the state government.

In the poster shared by BJP on 'X', it termed the capital city as "Udta Bengaluru" and alleged "Silicon City is becoming an "adda" (hub) for narcotic substances and rave parties are rampant."

The BJP used "Udta Bengaluru" in reference to the 2016 Bollywood movie "Udta Punjab", which highlighted drug abuse by youth in Punjab.

Responding to the allegations levelled by the BJP, Parameshwara said that the state government is hard on this (drug menace) and will not spare anybody.

"We are very hard on this. We don't spare anybody and we have already declared, you know, to see that Karnataka is free from all these drugs and we are doing it. Hundreds of crores of drugs have been seized. We have burnt it and we are continuously monitoring it. Many of the foreign students have been deported and we are continuously monitoring their whereabouts and actions and we don't spare anybody," he said here.

Parameshwara further said that the opposition can tell us if we have failed in our fight against drugs, but they should not cast aspersions. "I don't think it is right on the part of the opposition to say Bengaluru is becoming "Udta Bengaluru". They should not talk about such things. Let them tell us if we have failed in our fight against drugs. But they should not cast aspersions," he added.

A total of 103 people had participated in the party, which was organised under the pretext of a birthday party. The participants included 73 men and 30 women.

Police seized MDMA (Ecstasy) pills, MDMA crystals, hydro cannabis, cocaine, high-end cars, DJ equipment, including sound and lighting worth Rs 1.5 crore during the raid at the farmhouse near Electronics City in the wee hours of May 19.

After the raid, police collected the blood samples of the participants in a private hospital, which revealed that 59 men and 27 women tested positive for narcotics. "Most of the people who attended the party were consuming drugs. The Central Crime Branch will issue notices to those who tested positive," a police source had said.