Bengaluru: A BJP delegation on Friday met the Bengaluru Police Commissioner and submitted a complaint alleging that knives and other sharp weapons were ordered through the quick-commerce app Blinkit and delivered to the residence of Legislative Council Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy. The party demanded that those responsible be booked and externed under the Goonda Act.
The delegation included BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka and Narayanaswamy, besides other party leaders.
According to the complaint, as released by the BJP, the knives and other dangerous items were booked from 10 to 20 mobile numbers by NSUI members. The complaint alleged that eight to 10 Congress members had also come near Narayanaswamy’s house, surrounded the gate and tried to create fear. It held the Congress president, the Chief Minister and the Home Minister directly responsible for encouraging the NSUI workers.
The complaint said Congress workers had protested in front of the house several times, and that the homes of several Ministers and High Court judges are located next to Narayanaswamy’s residence. It said Blinkit should have checked the items before delivering them, called the delivery of such items without scrutiny suspicious and sought cancellation of the company’s licence.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Narayanaswamy said the knives were ordered on Blinkit and sent to his house without payment, with the address given as Seven Ministers’ Quarters, No. 6. He said parcels were also sent to his personal assistant Mallappa, and that he received a string of calls and WhatsApp messages from Blinkit. “You cannot silence us with this. We are not afraid of your knives,” he said, adding that the courts and the system would deal with the matter. He said the police should register a case on their own.
Narayanaswamy said his house is in a sensitive area where three judges and Ministers live, and that if Congress workers could protest there, it meant the government was sending them. He also said his earlier remark in Kolar, that people would cut the Congress into pieces and throw it into the Arabian Sea if it continued to create anarchy, referred to the party and not its workers, and that Congress workers had filed a police complaint against him without understanding it.
Vijayendra alleged that sending hundreds of knives to the Opposition leader’s home had once again exposed the “goonda culture” of the Congress. After meeting the Commissioner, he said the complaint was being treated seriously and the BJP had sought a case under the Goonda Act and punishment for those found guilty. “We will wait and see the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
Ashoka said sending knives amounted to an attempt to murder and demanded that the police immediately register a case of attempted murder. He accused the ruling party of spoiling law and order instead of protecting it.
According to Narayanaswamy, the Police Commissioner has assured strict action in the matter.
In his earlier media interaction, Vijayendra also alleged that the State was in a financial emergency, and said the BJP was strategising to win at least 125 to 130 seats and would move forward together with the JD(S).
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