BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Sunday sought merciless action against those involved in drug peddling and substance abuse in the state. Defending his partyman Zameer Ahmed Khan, Siddaramaiah appealed for an impartial probe.
"Any investigation has to be impartial, it should be done without any political motive. Drugs are a menace to the whole society, this has been around for several years now and it has to be stopped," Siddaramaiah said.
To a query on Zameer' name allegedly being linked to the case, Siddaramaiah said just because someone is seen with a person involved in a case, he cannot be labelled a criminal. "What is the evidence of Zameer's involvement in the drug racket? Someone’s name should not be dragged in unnecessarily to defame them," he said.
Meanwhile, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday too defended his Sri Lanka visit. Lashing out at Zameer Ahmed, a former JDS leader for dragging his name into the controversy, Kumaraswamy said there was nothing illegal about visiting casinos or Colombo but they had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into the drug scandal. "I don’t understand why a visit to Sri Lanka with my party legislators from six years ago is being pulled up now unnecessarily," he said.
Earlier, Zameer had said politicians cutting across party lines visit Sri Lanka. "I have never said I haven’t been to Colombo. When I was in the JDS, I, along with Kumaraswamy and a host of our legislators had
visited. That does not mean we did anything illegal," Zameer had said.