After Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar alleged that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was being targeted by the opposition as he is Lingayat, the Congress has rejected the charges. Speaking to the media on Monday, September 26, Congress chief in Karnataka DK Shivakumar said that the Chief Minister is targeted as he is the head of the government, and will have to bear responsibility for its deeds. "Has he (Bommai) become the Chief Minister on the basis of his Lingayat caste? He is in power as per the Constitution. We are targeting the government and he is the head of the government," Shivakumar told reporters.
Shivakumar was referring to the Congress’s campaign against the BJP, wherein opposition members had stuck posters around Bengaluru with a QR code with CM Bommai’s face visible in the centre and a caption that said ‘PayCM’, resembling online payment portal Paytm. The campaign was done to highlight the alleged corruption within the ruling BJP government in Karnataka.
On Sunday, September 25, Health Miniter Sudhakar had alleged that CM Bommai was being targeted due to his caste, and claimed that the Congress “cannot tolerate a Chief Minister from the major Lingayat community”. "They (Congress) did the same thing when Veerendra Patil (who was a Lingayat) was the CM. Those who are good administrators, that too chief ministers from the prominent Lingayat community, are their target. Everyone is watching it... Congress always does it, they always target major communities," Sudhakar alleged. The Veerashaiva Lingayat community to which CM Bommai belongs is considered to be the BJP's core vote base.
However, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has distanced himself from Sudhakar’s allegations, saying, “I am not a party to that statement and will not comment.”
Several Congress leaders were involved in the ‘PayCM’ Upon scanning it, the QR leads to the Congress’s website 40percentsarakara.com, as part of the opposition’s campaign to highlight alleged corruption within the ruling government. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, All India Congress Committee general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and several senior MLAs and others participated in the campaign. Later, the Congress leaders were arrested and the posters were removed from the public place.