In race to shop for votes, BJP, Cong trade photoshopping charges

After a round of calling each other names, the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP on Saturday traded barbs over 'photoshop politics'.

The Congress has accused the BJP of "peddling lies" after it was found that the saffron party used photographs of Nepal and Mizoram and tried to pass them off as images of Bengaluru's uncleared garbage and potholes. These images were printed in a booklet the BJP brought out recently to highlight "misrule" in Bengaluru by the Congress government.  

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One image was that of uncleared garbage in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. This 2015 image is credited to journalist Donatella Lorch. Another image showing potholes is apparently of a road in Mizoram.

"The BJP has done this in the past as well. They seem to have decided to lie their way into this election. But we're not keeping quiet. We will place before the people the bunglings of the BJP," KPCC president G Parameshwara told reporters.

The BJP countered the Congress by releasing two images - one from Turkey and another from the United States - that the state government used in its advertisements.

For example, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted an image announcing the inauguration of the Pavagada solar park. The image, however, is of the Konya solar power plant in Turkey. Similarly, the state government used the image of a verdant landscape to claim that it has recovered 15,000 acres of encroached government land, of which, it had allotted 1,600 acres worth Rs 30,000 crore for a tree park. In reality, the image was of the Ross Tree Park in Pennsylvania, US.

"Is this photoshop your model of governance, Siddaramaiah?" Karnataka BJP's social media cell convenor Balaji Srinivas tweeted.