Bangalore (PTI): Faced with mounting criticism over the attack on women in a Mangalore pub, the BJP on Tuesday termed it as an "unacceptable act of hooliganism" while regretting that its political opponents were levelling allegations against the Sangh without verifying facts.

"The Karnataka government has already initiated strong action against the unacceptable act of hooliganism that took place in Mangalore. The BJP condemns the incident in totality," BJP President Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

However, he said, it was "unfortunate that our political opponents and the so-called secularists, suffer from an RSS-BJP phobia. They tend to level allegations without even verifying the facts".

About 15 to 20 activists, reportedly belonging to Sri Ram Sene, had barged into a local pub in Mangalore on Saturday night and beat up women accusing them of behaving in an "obscene manner".

Some sections have sought to link the Sangh Parivar to the incident in which more than a dozen men barged into a local pub in Mangalore on Saturday night and beat up women stating they were going against Indian culture and tradition.

Launching an attack on the Congress, the BJP chief said, "with the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, one should not be surprised if the Congress dumps its 'Aam Admi' plank and plans another slogan to confuse another section of society".

Talking about the November 26 Mumbai attacks, he said the strikes were nothing less than an "open war" on India and that they should be dealt in the same spirit.

Distancing itself from the Sri Ram Sene, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said "it (Sene) has nothing to do with the Parivar. I am telling this honestly".

He said few more people have been arrested in connection with the attack.

"This shows that the state government will not tolerate people taking law into their hands and indulging in criminal activities. We will take strong action against the anti-social elements irrespective of their religious or political affiliations," he said.

On banning the SRS, he said "we will think whether to ban (SRS) or not. It will take its own time. We will discuss it with the police officers. We will not allow such incidents".

Eight more persons, including some top functionaries of Sene, have been arrested in connection with the attack on the women, taking the total number of those nabbed to 25.