Sandalwood Drug Case: BJP, Cong Spar Over Ragini Dwivedi

Bengaluru: Encashing on the drug racket rocking Bengaluru, Karnataka’s BJP unit tweeted pictures of actors Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjana Galrani with Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and questioned what the pictures “meant“.

The party flayed the Congress for accusing the BJP of having links with Ragini Dwivedi, who is accused in the drug case that is being probed by Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch.  

“The BJP government is taking stringent action at every step in connection with the drug case. The Congress is trying to interfere with the investigation by deflecting the direction of the probe. Actors are seen with politicians from all parties and to link the party (BJP) with the case (drug case) is laughable. What do you think these pictures mean?” the BJP’s tweet said.

Wednesday’s tweet came after the Congress on September 4, released pictures of actor Ragini Dwivedi campaigning for turncoat MLA Narayana Gowda during the 2019 bye-elections in Mandya. Gowda later defected from JD(S) to BJP and contested the KR Pete seat, which he won.

The Congress had also tweeted pictures of Ragini Dwivedi with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son Vijayendra.

Soon after the pictures were released, Narayana Gowda said that “he had no knowledge of drug consumption”.

“I did not know that she was consuming drugs. If I did, I would not have accepted her request to campaign for me,” Gowda had said. On September 5, the BJP had released an official statement titled, “We disown Ragini Dwivedi”.

“Ragini Dwivedi is not a member of the BJP. The BJP has not assigned her the responsibility of electioneering. She may have been involved in the campaign on her own,” the BJP’s statement had said.

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