'PayCM' photos, ‘40 percent Sarkara’ jibe in Bengaluru with CM Bommai's likeness
Similar posters - 'Welcome to 40% CM' - were seen in Hyderabad last week, when Bommai was to take part in the BJP's Hyderabad 'liberation day' events.
Posters targeting Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai - with his likeness pasted over the image of a QR code and the phrase 'PayCM' written above - were spotted across Bengaluru Wednesday. According to media reports, the code redirects to a '40 per cent Sarkara' website set up by the opposition Congress.
The website was set up to receive complaints against corrupt state officials. It is unclear, though, if the Congress is responsible for the posters as well.
The Twitter handle operated by the party's state unit has, however, posted a video of a young man appealing to the chief minister, with the caption: "These youths do not ask for your treasure… not asking for your party ticket… 40% commission is not asked… just asking for a fair job."
The '40 per cent Sarkara' jibe is a reference to allegations by Karnataka contractors who claim that 40 per cent of the tender amount for state-funded infrastructural projects is taken as a bribe by BJP leaders and officials.
Similar posters - 'Welcome to 40% CM' - were seen in Hyderabad last week, when Bommai was to take part in the BJP's Hyderabad 'liberation day' events.
He called it a 'systematic conspiracy' and criticising the Telangana government for allowing 'such baseless allegations against a chief minister'.
The social media convenor of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti tweeted: "Why did Karnataka CM garu react strongly on hoarding which did not even name him? Is he agreeing BJP govt in Karnataka is 40% commission govt?"
READ | "Why did CM Bommai react on unnamed hoardings?" asks TRS
The Hyderabad posters did not name Bommai or carry his likeness.
The BJP has refuted the 40% allegations.
The Congress' '40 per cent Sarkara' attacks come just months before an Assembly election in Karnataka, with the opposition party also holding a 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' - headlined by Rahul Gandhi - in the state.