'What Moral Right Do They Have...': Karnataka CM As Row Erupts Over BJP's 'ATM Sarkara Collection Tree' Poster

Congress filed a police complaint on Friday against the BJP's Karnataka social media handle for making disparaging remarks against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

After BJP released the ‘ATM Sarkara Collection Tree’ poster accusing the government of using Karnataka as the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to fund Parliamentary and upcoming assembly polls, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday lashed out at the saffron party, stating that "they were defeated on the grounds that they are corrupt people. So, what moral right do they have to make allegations against Congress?," news agency ANI reported. 

The poster shared by BJP features images of Congress MP and former party president Rahul Gandhi, national general secretaries Randeep Singh Surjewala and K C Venugopal, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah's son Yatindra Siddaramaiah, Minister Byrathi Suresh and contractor Ambikapathy.

In response to BJP's poster, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said: "BJP is frustrated because all its leaders are joining the Congress. All workers (of BJP and JDS) are frustrated because of the alliance and they know that only the Congress Party can safeguard the interests of Karnataka."

Earlier, while releasing the poster with other party leaders, former CM D V Sadananda Gowda informed reporters:  "People have now come to know how the administration is being run in the state for the past five months. All the development works have come to a standstill and the situation is so pathetic that not a single pothole is getting filled," PTI reported. 

The governing Congress filed a police complaint on Friday against the BJP's Karnataka social media handle for making disparaging remarks against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Surya Mukundaraj, state general secretary of the Congress, claimed that the BJP's social media handle claimed that the huge sum of Rs 94 crore and valuables worth Rs eight crore seized by the Income Tax Department in recent raids in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi belonged to the Congress.

He further said that the BJP had distorted and distorted the photographs of the Chief Minister and his Deputy in order to confuse the public.

(With Inputs From Agencies)