Posters calling Kumaraswamy ‘electricity thief’ appear near his house

PTI, Nov 15, 2023, 12:25 PM IST

Posters dubbing former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy as ‘current thief’ surfaced on the walls near his house a day after the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company registered a case of power theft against him. Videos showing the posters went viral on social media. Learning about the posters, police rushed to the spot and removed them.

The Congress in Karnataka on Tuesday accused former Chief Minister and JD(S) state chief Kumarawamy of drawing power illegally to light up his JP Nagar residence here with decorative lights during Deepavali.

The ruling party posted a video along with a statement on micro-blogging site ‘X’ criticising the JD(S) leader and son of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

Accordingly, the BESCOM vigilance wing conducted an inspection and registered a case under Section 135 of the Indian Electricity Act. Kumaraswamy said it was not his fault but of a private decorator who gave the connection directly from a nearby electricity pole. When he got to know he immediately got it removed and took the electricity connection from the meter board of the house, he claimed.

”The lone honest person in the world H D Kumaraswamy’s JP Nagar residence was illuminated with decorative lights with illegal power connection directly from the electric pole. It is a tragedy that such poverty has struck a former CM to steal electricity!” the Congress said, taking a dig at him.