BENGALURU:The Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) seem to be indulging in a photo war.
The state unit of the BJP faced embarrassment on Saturday, when photos used by the party in its ‘chargesheet’ against the Congress government were found to be from faraway places like the North-Eastern states and even from Nepal.
The ‘chargesheet’ was released on Thursday by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar along with other leaders.As news of the source of the images spread on social media, central leaders are said to have taken the state leadership to task for what is being seen as a major gaffe at a time when the state is headed for elections soon.
However, in a counter attack, the BJP alleged that the practice had been adopted by the state government as well where an advertisement on ‘Nava Karnataka’ featuring Chief Minister Siddaramaiah featured pictures of the United States and Turkey.
The BJP’s document highlights the pathetic condition of roads, uncleared garbage, miseries during monsoon, fire at Bellandur lake and other issues. The document was released under the name ‘Lekka Kodi Bengalurina Janarige’ (give an account to people of Bengaluru). The photos in question range from a picture of a garbage dump taken in Nepal and attributed to a Nepalese publication to another photo of potholed roads, supposedly from one of the north-eastern states. These pictures are teamed with text on how bad the traffic situation is in Bengaluru and how the accumulation of garbage continues unchecked. According to BJP sources, they had outsourced the designing of the booklet to a private agency. “This is a small blunder. The agency has taken wrong pictures. But the issues highlighted and other factual details are correct,’’ said the sources.
Congress leaders including CM Siddaramaiah strongly condemned this measure and called the BJP a party of liars. “People in Karnataka and Bengaluru are aware of what we have done and how we have developed our roads. When that is the case,, BJP leaders are showing photos from outside Karnataka and this shows what big liars they are,’’he said.KPCC president G Parameshwara said that this was not the first time BJP was doing this. “This reveals BJP leaders’ true colours. It looks like they have decided that they will lie. Right from PM Modi to the state BJP leaders, all of them are lying.”
Counter this, BJP spokesperson S Prakash said photographs used in CM Siddaramiah’s ‘Nava Karnataka’ advertisements are not from Karnataka. “The hoardings and other media showcase posters where the CM talks of repossessing land for tree park. The picture is of a tree park from the US. Similarly, the solar park photographs used with the CM’s picture are from Turkey and not Pavagada. Will Congress leaders answer to this?’’ he questioned.
When contacted, Home Minister and senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy said it was in the nature of BJP leaders to tell lies from birth. He also said Congress will also release a chargesheet and tell the truth to the public.