New Delhi: A video of senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah allegedly asking party leaders to pay Rs 500 each to get people to attend rallies has gone viral on the social media, news agency PTI reported.
In the viral video, the Leader of Opposition at Karnataka Legislative Assembly can be seen chatting with KPCC working president Satish Jarkiholi, MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, and MLC Channaraj Hattiholi, among others.
The Congress leader, in a response to MLA Hebbalkar, can be heard saying that people have to paid Rs 500 to get them to attend political rallies.
It is not clear as to when the video was taken. However, it seems to have been recorded when the former Chief Minister was in Belagavi recently as part of party's ongoing "Praja Dwani" bus yatra ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections due by May.
Meanwhile, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit out at the Congress leader by tweeting the video.
Reacting to the video, state Congress chief DK Shivakumar said, "It is not true, we are not encouraging anyone, there is no need for us to give money, we don't have such practice."
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Belagavi said, "It has been Congress's tradition to pay money and bring people, there is nothing new or surprising in it. It's their tradition and people are aware of it. Congress has been indulging in such things and now it has come to the fore."
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that Congress insulted its chief Mallikarjun Kharge at an AICC plenary session in Chhattisgarh, Siddaramaiah refuted the claim and said such an incident did not happen and that it is another lie peddled by the prime minister.