Fighting fire with fire: This seems to be the strategy of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his social media team in the run-up to the assembly polls. Siddaramaiah, who made his social media debut less than two years ago, has left no stone unturned when it comes to responding to the Opposition’s barbs.
On Thursday, when the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the Siddaramaiah-led government had nothing to show other than “misrule and misgovernance”, the CM hit back by posing 10 questions to the party’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa.
“The Congress govt in Karnataka has failed miserably on all fronts. #10PercentCMSiddaramaiah has nothing to go to the voters except his misrule and misgovernance. The state is in dire need of a govt which can fulfill the aspirations of 6.5 Cr Kannadigas,” former CM Yeddyurappa posted on Facebook.
The CM’s questions in response to this ranged from attacking the BJP for being non-committal about the state flag and the separate religion status for Lingayats to the Mahadayi water sharing issue and the Centre’s waiving farm loans.
The post also attacked Yeddyurappa’s personal credentials as CM candidate claiming that he was was the man “who turned Karnataka into the most corrupt state, Bengaluru into a garbage city and ordered goli bar on farmers”.
Siddaramaiah also highlighted the social welfare schemes introduced during his chief ministership and asked how the BJP could do any better.
The battle in Karnataka between the political parties has naturally spilled over to the online space – primarily between the incumbent Congress and the BJP.
The social media war has not been limited to just leaders within the state. Often CM Siddaramaiah, and the state Congress leadership, can be seen attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP’s National President Amit Shah.
The BJP has time and again tried to attack the Congress over allegations of corruption, calling its government a “10% commission government”. The Congress, in turn, has invoked Yeddyurappa’s indictment in the illegal mining case, which led to his resignation as CM and his prison stint in the land notification case.