Bommai called the move a systematic conspiracy and said that it might damage the relation between the two states.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has responded to the controversial billboards that cropped up in Telangana’s Hyderabad ahead of his scheduled visit to the city. Bommai called the move a systematic conspiracy and said that it might damage the relation between the two states.

Speaking to the reporters on Sunday, Bommai said: “I was supposed to be in Hyderabad but had to cancel my plans due to busy schedule. I have heard about the billboards that appeared in Hyderabad and it is a systematic conspiracy. I do not know whether they are private billboards or government sponsored ones.”

“But it is not fair for the Telangana government to allow such baseless allegations against a chief minister on a billboard. This might daunt the relations between two friendly states.”

Over the weekend, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held the Hyderabad Liberation Day event celebrations at Parade Grounds in Secunderabad, and many BJP leaders including union home minister Amit Shah and Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai were scheduled to attend. Hours before the event, posters reading – “Welcome 40% CM” – cropped up near the venue in apparent potshot at Bommai.

However, chief minister Bommai did not attend the event on Saturday.

The Karnataka BJP has been defined as “40% government” by opposition parties after many contractors in the state made an allegation of giving “40 per cent of contract amount as bribe to BJP leaders and officials who are in power, for all state sponsored infrastructural works in the state”. The ruling BJP had condemned these allegations many times.