MYSURU: With the Congress’ ‘PayCM’ campaign against the Bommai government paying rich dividends for the Grand Old Party in the May 10 Assembly elections, the BJP has now followed suit by launching ‘PayCS’ campaign targeting Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy over alleged corruption. The posters of ‘PayCS’ with a QR code giving details of the alleged bribe needed for transfers have emerged in public places in Mandya.
As BJP workers continued to paste the posters on the highway, the police arrested activist Shivakumar, Manjunath, Aradhya, and others even removed the posters.
The campaign comes in the wake of Chaluvarayaswamy facing corruption charges after seven assistant directors of the agriculture department in Mandya allegedly wrote to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot alleging that the minister demanded a bribe through the joint director. The Governor forwarded it to Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, asking her to take appropriate action. The State Government has ordered for a CID probe.
Meanwhile, the police interrogated the Joint Director, Deputy Director, and Assistant Directors in the Agriculture office for more than 4 hours to know with whom they are in touch with, who might have influenced them to write the letter to the governor, and who is behind it. The police, who seized their mobile phones, are also looking into the chats and WhatsApp messages.