Parties engage in online photo wars over potholes, solar park

BENGALURU: In an age when political parties and governments don’t miss any chance to tom-tom their achievements on virtual platforms, the practice seems to have become a double-edged sword for them. With assembly elections round the corner, both Congress and BJP have increased scrutiny of the pictures posted by one another on Twitter and other social media websites.
Ahead of BJP’s Bengaluru Rakshisi (Save Bengaluru) Yatra on Friday, Congress identified an alleged gaffe by the saffron party, saying it had passed off pothole-ridden roads of Mizoram and Nepal as Bengaluru streets to bring infamy to the ruling party.

On Saturday morning, the BJP hit back by releasing pictures of the recently inaugurated mega solar park in Pavagada, alleging the Congress has superimposed the CM’s picture on the image of a solar park in Turkey.

The BJP has also alleged the Congress has used the picture of a large tract of green area in Rose Park in Pennsylvania, USA, to project the government’s achievements under the tagline “delivered as promised”, using the words “repossessing 15,000 acres of encroached land allotted: 1,600 acres worth Rs 30,000 crore, exclusively to tree park”.

The two national parties appear to have scoured the internet to substantiate their allegations with the ‘actual’ pictures. The Congress claims BJP has picked up pictures of the potholed roads from a news portal.

Using the opportunity to lash out at the BJP after its national leadership was caught using “fake pictures” of communal violence, the Congress ran a hashtag on Twitter — BariOluBJP (faking BJP). The BJP retorted by releasing the solar power park pictures, and went one step ahead by terming the Congress government ‘Photoshopsarkara’ (Photoshop government).