'CM Uncle' campaign launched by Congress

Bengaluru: Just a day after the Karnataka Government inaugurated the 'Viveka Scheme', the Karnataka Congress unit launched the "CM Uncle" campaign. Through this campaign, Congress accuses the BJP led State Government of not giving enough attention to school-going students.

The State Government's new initiative, the 'Viveka Scheme' aims to build or renovate 8,100 classrooms for the benefit of school children. The idea of painting these classrooms saffron however, did not sit well with the Congress as they accused BJP of "saffronising" education. In a bid to protest against painting the classrooms saffron, the Congress in Karnataka launched the "CM Uncle" campaign. This campaign includes a series of tweets under #CMUncle and is written in a manner that the Congress is speaking on behalf of the children.

The tweets claim that school children in the state do not have facilities like hygienic drinking water, mid-day meals, and toilets. One of the tweets said, "It was reported in the newspaper that Karnataka has fallen to 14th position in education performance index. We don't know about the index, but we are not getting facilities in schools. We feel like we're visiting a bus stand when we come to school. Why are you doing this injustice, CM Uncle?" Another one from the string of tweets said, "#CMUncle how can girls come to school? Girls studying in many schools across the state find it difficult when there are no toilets. PM Uncle says 'Beti Bachao Beti Padao', but here neither is there 'bachao' nor 'padao'. Why CM Uncle? Even if it is saffron in colour, build a toilet for us."

The tweets were posted from the '@INCKarnataka' handle of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Followng these tweets, the '@BJP4Karnataka' Twitter handle of BJP Karnataka released a video in response to Congress.

In the video, a narrator is heard saying, "Saffron, White and Green are the colours of our National Flag. Saffron represents strength, courage and sacrifice. We have stepped forward to paint the classrooms under the 'Viveka Scheme' in saffron. But the thought of the colour being introduced to children has been a problem to Congress."

The video showed glimpses of Congress leader Siddaramaiah throwing away a saffron scarf that he wore. Another clip from the video showed Siddaramaiah refusing to wear a tilak offered by a woman in a crowd.