PayCM posters: Congress to step up campaign as cadres, labourers arrested in Karnataka

The “PayCM” posters were seen all along Race Course road, Shivananda Circle, Railway Parallel Road, and several other areas in Central Bengaluru.

Tech to track down poor labourers

PayCM posters were pasted by the Congress across Bengaluru. (South First)

The Bengaluru City Police’s Crime Branch — nonetheless — arrested five people for pasting the posters. All five, in their 20s and 30s, are residents of Laggere within the city limits.

The police used CCTV footage to identify the labourers who were commissioned to put up the posters. Such intense investigation is often used to crack high-profile, heinous criminal acts.

The five men, identified as Kalakaiya Swamy, Vishwamurthy K, Madhan Kumar, Siddaiah N, and Vinod Kumar V, are daily wage labourers.

They have been remanded to judicial custody even though they have been booked under non-cognizable sections such as the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act 1981, (Karnataka Act 35 of 1982).

Soon after Bengaluru city saw the PayCM posters, civic authorities were directed to immediately get all those removed. Cases was also registered against members of the Congress who hired the labourers to stick the posters.

Congress cadre arrests irks leaders

In the wee hours of Thursday, teams of Bengaluru police arrested three Congress workers — previously associated with the communications team and IT cell of the party.

“We have arrested five people involved in defiling public property and creating a nuisance for the members of the general public,” said a senior police officer attached to the High Grounds police station.

R Srinivas Gowda, Deputy Commissioner of Police Central Division told South First: “We have arrested five people and remanded them, and further questioning is underway with the detainees from the Congress IT cell.”

Miffed over its cadres being arrested over an anti-corruption campaign, the Congress leadership in Karnataka has called for largescale agitation.

“We have done nothing wrong. This is a political campaign. They have arrested our boys today but tomorrow (Friday) I along with all the legislators of the Congress, every single one of us, will stick the same posters. Let the government do what it wants,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President DK Shivakumar told the media outside the High Grounds police station.

Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah, too, reiterated Shivakumar’s statement.

“Though the charges pressed are cognizable, the way in which the state machinery acted upon the two police cases are worth mentioning as these kind of multi-pronged approach by the state does not happen sometimes even when heinous crimes occur among common citizens,” pointed out Arun Prasad, an activist.

BJP’s counter campaign

Booklet released by Karnataka BJP highlighting scams and irregularities during the Congress government. (Supplied)

Repeatedly put in the dock by the Congress over allegations of corruption, the BJP unit in Karnataka decided to hit back. On Thursday, BJO State President Nalin Kumar Kateel released a booklet highlighting alleged scams and irregularities during the Congress government under Siddaramaiah.

The 28-page booklet, filled with satirical cartoons, newspaper article clippings, television show clippings, and listicles of alleged scams was released as a counter to Congress’ “40% commission government” campaign.

The BJP in Karnataka has been working towards putting together a booklet on Congress government’s irregularities ever since the State unit of the Congress intensified its campaigns. The Congress has been attempting to go for BJP and specifically Bommai’s jugular over corruption and comission allegations even inside the Karnataka Assembly where a legislative session is underway.

PayCM campaign

If you scan a QR code on UPI payment platforms like PayTM or GPay, you get to a transaction page. But in the PayCM campaign, scanning the QR code posters takes the user to a website launched by the Congress to highlight allegations of corruption against the Bommai government.

A message on the poster reads “40% accepted here” and asks the reader to scan this QR code to make the “CM pay” for corruption. Accompanied is a toll-free phone number — 844-770-40-40 — set up by the Congress to “register complaints of corruption”.

The website, www.40percentsarkara.com, is where one would land after scanning the QR code. The Congress says citizens can submit their complaints here against the government.