BANGALORE: In the early hours of Thursday, the High Ground police detained Congress' social media director B.R. Naidu and two other people for allegedly helping to paste PayCM posters as part of the party's campaign on Wednesday.

In accordance with different provisions of the Karnataka Open Places Prevention and Disfigurement) Act, 1981, First Information Reports about the posters were submitted at various police stations in Bengaluru. The High Ground police detained B.R. Naidu.

The BJP released posters with QR Codes bearing the images of former chief minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar in response to the Congress' poster campaign, declaring that "The duo has to be expelled from the state."

A verbal battle between BJP and Congress MLAs broke out in both Houses of the Assembly following the arrest of the Congress activists. On Wednesday, the Congress launched a poster campaign against the BJP by posting images of the chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, in prominent locations, including Race Course Road, where the chief minister's mansion is situated.

D.K. Shivakumar, the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, paid a visit to the High Ground police station on Thursday morning in response to the detention of Naidu and other party members.

Siddaramaiah, a former chief minister and prominent member of the Congress, stated on Thursday in the Vidhana Soudha that the party's supporters should intensify their opposition to the BJP, the government, and that they would not be silent over the arrests conducted by the police.

"Did Naidu commit a murder for his arrest?" demanded Siddaramaiah. According to him, the party's campaign against the BJP included the Paycm poster campaign. Law Minister Madhuswamy said in the Assembly that the usage of a photo in the QR Code banner bothered him.

In the Assembly, BJP MLA Rajeev questioned "On what basis did Chief Minister's picture was included in the QR code poster," while Minister for Law Madhuswamy expressed his hurt over the Paycm banners criticising the Chief Minister.
Congress representatives B.K. Hariprasad and Prakash Rathod presented Paycm posters in the Council, while BJP representatives rebutted them.

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