Sandalwood drug scandal takes a political turn in Karnataka

Though Sambaragi named Zameer, it is not a secret in Karnataka that many politicians and their children attend high profile Page-3 parties

Update: 2020-09-05 10:39 GMT
Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi being escorted to an interrogation in Bengaluru. All the film personalities being investigated for drug abuse in Bollywood are women. (PTI)

Bengaluru: Days after the sandalwood drug scandal blew up in the state, political blame game began on Saturday.

While celebrity manager Prashanth Sambaragi, who had spilled the beans over Sandalwood's drug links, accused former minister BZ Zameer Ahamed Khan of having links with Rahul, who was arrested on Friday, Tourism Minister CT Ravi charged that a lot of political pressure was mounted to hush up the case against Ragini.

While the Congress working president Saleem Ahamed and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah wanted the minister to spell out the names of the people exerting pressure, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai endorsed Ravi's allegations on pressure.

Though Sambaragi named Zameer, it is not a secret in Karnataka that many politicians and their children attend high profile Page-3 parties. Most of the politicians are in touch with the celebrities and those organising such parties. Many of the politicians, cutting across political party affiliations, also want to launch their children on the silver screen and do get in touch with party organisers.

The BJP has a lot of stakes in the entire case. In the first place, Karthik Raj, whose name figured just after the arrest of Ravi Shankar himself, is a BJP member. He had joined BJP during last by-elections and campaigned in the Shivajinagar constituency.

Even Ragini Dwivedi wanted to become the Brand Ambassador for the Karnataka government in fighting against depression. She had met Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa once and Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu twice in this regard. However, things could not move forward due to the lockdown and COVID-19 outburst. Ragini had also campaigned for a BJP candidate on personal basis during 2018 general elections.

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