B.S. Yeddyurappa, State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Sunday that though there was a need to set up a unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Mangaluru, the State government has not demanded for it.
Addressing presspersons, he said that if the BJP came to power in next year’s Assembly elections, the unit would be opened in the coastal city by providing the necessary infrastructure.
Mr. Yeddyurappa said there are reports that Islamic Sate (IS) operatives have links in the coastal belt in the State and in neighbouring Kerala. There are reports that IS has agents in Bhatkal and Mangaluru. The security of the coastal belt is under threat. Coastal districts are increasingly becoming sensitive. The government should have requested the Union government to sanction a unit of the NIA in the city.
He said that the drug mafia was rampant in the coastal belt. It was the root cause for the deteriorating law and order in the belt. The State government has failed to control the mafia, he alleged.
The BJP leader also added that Kerala-like political murders were now taking place in Dakshina Kannada.