Bengaluru: DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah join workers in sticking 'PayCM' posters; taken into custody, let off

BENGALURU: Congress on Friday intensified its ‘PayCM’ campaign against chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and his government, with the brass of the state unit pasting posters in many public spaces.

The party said it will conduct a statewide ‘PayCM’ campaign on Saturday as it bristled over the arrests of some its workers, including a staffer of its social media cell late on Wednesday night for allegedly pasting posters in public spaces.

After the assembly session was adjourned on Friday, Congress functionaries, including opposition leaders Siddaramaiah and BK Hariprasad, state president DK Shivakumar and AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala besides legislators and workers, pasted posters on a compound wall on Race Course Road and other places.

Priyank Kharge, KPCC spokesperson, even pasted posters on police jeeps and vans. However, police quickly ripped off the posters and took some functionaries and workers into preventive custody. They were let off after some hours. Siddaramaiah told reporters that the campaign will continue.

Party workers at the district level have been pasting posters in various places, including government offices and outside local BJP offices. Posters were also seen on several vehicles, especially autorickshaws but these did not have the image of Bommai or the ‘PayCM’ caption although it had the QR code along with slogans like ‘Raise voice against corruption’ and ‘40% commission government’. The posters also had the toll-free phone number to record complaints against the government. It also ran a ‘PayCM’ campaign on social media, highlighting various alleged irregularities under the Bommai dispensation, like the PSI recruitment scam.