The city police have registered an FIR against Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D. K. Shivakumar and over 20 other senior Congress leaders for pasting ‘PayCM’ posters in Bengaluru Friday.
Over 30 leaders and hundreds of party workers were taken into preventive custody from Racecourse Circle where they pasted the ‘PayCM’ poster on a wall. They were later released on station bail, police sources said. The leaders have been booked under the Karnataka Open Places Disfigurement Act, 1951, and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
The Congress campaign with “PayCM: 40% commission accepted here” posters with the face of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, punning on allegations of 40% commission in State government contracts, drew sharp reaction from the government. The city police arrested five persons for disfigurement of open places, drawing the ire of Opposition leaders. Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar condemned the arrests as “autocratic” and challenged the government to arrest them and went ahead with pasting the ‘PayCM’ posters themselves on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, ruling BJP members of the Legislative Council staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue in Vidhana Soudha against the alleged corruption scandals during the tenure of Mr. Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister. They demanded that the government institute investigation into them.
