A Bengaluru actor, Akhil Iyer, objected to the use of his photo in the Karnataka Congress’ PayCM Poster campaign and threatened to take legal action against the party. According to Iyer, his photo was used without his permission.
Congress has now removed posts containing his images on the 40 Percent Sarkara page on Instagram. Iyer, who describes himself as an actor and producer on Twitter, clarified on Twitter that he had no affiliations with the campaign. also threatened legal action against those responsible.
Congress hung “PayCM posters” with the image of Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai across Bangalore as part of its campaign against the BJP.
The “40% Sarkara” posters are designed to highlight how the current BJP regime has allegedly made the 40% commission rate the norm. and “Sarkara’s 40 percent gluttony has stolen careers from over 54,000 young people.
” The actor took to Twitter to protest the “illegal” use of his image by, saying: “I am appalled to see my face being used illegally and without my consent for ‘40% Sarkara’, a congressional campaign which I have nothing to do with.
“I will take legal action against this.” Priyank Kharge, MLA and head of communications cell for the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, said the posts had been axed.
“For these types of campaigns, we typically only use images from Shutterstock. I’m not sure if the image was used accidentally,” he said. “We have removed the post and are looking into the complaints,” he told The Indian Express.
In a tweet attacking Congress, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa wrote, “Akhil Iyer is the face of New India and that face does not jibe with Congressional lies or false propaganda.
” can no longer force people to like your lies and support your hate campaign,” he said, blaming Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
The “PayCM” banners feature Bommai’s photo in the middle of a QR code with the message “40 accepted here”. Scanning the QR code on the signs takes the user to the 40 percent
The “Sarkara” website was set up by Congress to deal with bribery-related complaints.
Recently, a contracting authority claimed that contractors had to pay a 40 percent commission to win public works contracts.
The allegation was firmly denied by the Karnataka government. Earlier this year, developer Santhosh Patil, who accused former Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa of corruption, committed suicide in a Udupi lodge.
In a letter, the contractor claimed that the minister demanded a 40% bribe from the contractors for each project and spent more than 15,000 rupees on bribes alone.