Raghupati Bhat, MLA, said on Friday that he was not involved in organising the controversial “Spring Zouk Island Festival” at the St. Mary's Island from February 3 to 5.
The festival, which featured western and Indian music, was severely criticised by Opposition parties, including Congress, and Janata Dal (Secular), for the alleged use of drugs, alcohol and obscenities.
Mr. Bhat told presspersons here that the festival was organised by a private firm, 3W Concepts.
The role of the district administration was limited to giving permission to the festival. “My role was limited to inaugurating the festival,” he added.
The district administration had given permission to the festival with stringent conditions. But there were problems in the way the festival was organised. Eight closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras were installed there.
These cameras would reveal if the alleged obscenities, including a foreign couple having sex in the open, telecast by Kannada news channels were true. The Chief Minister had ordered an inquiry into the matter.
“If the CCTV cameras failed to capture the alleged incident, we will seek clippings of the alleged obscenity from the television channels. If the firm was found guilty, legal action would be taken against it,” he said. He said he was pained by the criticism by the Congress, which stated that head of 3W Concepts Girish Shetty was his classmate and that was the reason he was lenient about the festival. “The Congress should not forget Mr. Shetty is the classmate of Congress leader Pramod Madhwaraj as well,” he said.
“We agreed to the festival only because we thought it will promote tourism. This is the first time such a festival was organised on the St. Mary's Island. We will never allow any such festival involving foreigners in the future. We may, however, hold a festival on Indian music,” Mr. Bhat said.
