A rave party that was busted on May 19 in Karnataka's Bengaluru has become the latest flashpoint between the Congress-led government of the state and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the latter terming the Silicon City "Udta Bengaluru" - a jibe in reference to Bollywood movie 'Udta Punjab' which was based on drug menace in the state.
The BJP has alleged the city is becoming the "adda" for narcotic substances and rave parties.
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 a raid on a party which was taking place at a farmhouse near Bengaluru's 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. Telugu actress Hema is reportedly among the ones to have tested positive for narcotics.
BJP's 'Udta Bengaluru' Jibe
"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 that "Silicon City is becoming an "adda" (hub) for narcotic substances and rave parties are rampant."
'Not Right To Call City Udta Bengaluru', Says K'taka Govt
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 told reporters 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.
