Brickbats are common in any election season. There is a sharp inflection in accusations, name-calling and other innuendos from opposing factions vying for power. The situation is, therefore, no different in Karnataka as the southern state gears up for the crucial polls on 12 May where the exchange of barbs have transcended into the virtual universe of social media.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter on Monday morning challenging Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa to an “open debate”.

“PM Modi is deliberately confusing Karnataka voters with his bombastic speeches on non-issues. All hot air & no substance. My contest is not with him. It is with Yaddyurappa,” he wrote.

“I challenge him to an open debate on issues on a single platform. Will he accept? Modi is also welcome!” said the CM.

Siddaramaiah, who is contesting from both Badami and Chamundeshwari, shared two posters containing an open letter written in English and Kannada addressed to PM Modi and Yeddyurappa.

“Why not debate with facts and let the people of Karnataka decide who is truthful,” it read.

“In the interest of 6.5 crore Kannadiga’s future, let us have an open debate about our plans for Karnataka before the people of the state. I am open to come to any place on the date and time suggested by you both,” Siddaramaiah suggested in the letter ending it with a call to Yeddyurappa to respond.

PM Modi is deliberately confusing Karnataka voters with his bombastic speeches on non-issues. All hot air & no substance. My contest is not with him. It is with Yaddyurappa.

I challenge him to an open debate on issues on a single platform. Will he accept? Modi is also welcome! pic.twitter.com/34Jl6nIeOE

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) May 7, 2018

Yeddyurappa, who is contesting from Shikaripura, responded to Siddaramaiah’s challenge by evening on Twitter.

Retweeting the Karnataka CM’s tweet, Yeddyurappa took a jibe and made three suggestions to Siddaramaiah.

“I think your Hublot watch suggests you the right time to show up for a debate,” he wrote pointing at the costly wrist watch the CM got as a gift but which the BJP is using as a tool to attack Siddaramaiah with.

“1. Do get Vijay Eswaran, your fugitive friend along. 2. Do carry the diary of L Govindaraju. 3. Let us also debate: Turning Lokayukta Powerless, Farmers’ suicides, Sand Mafia, Honest Officers’ Transfer,” Yeddyurappa wrote.

I think your Hublot watch suggests you the right time to show up for a debate.
1. Do get Vijay Eswaran, your fugitive friend along.
2. Do carry the diary of L Govindaraju.
3. Let us also debate: Turning Lokayukta Powerless, Farmers’ suicides, Sand Mafia, Honest Officers’ Transfer https://t.co/OCgfmtOlno

— B.S. Yeddyurappa (@BSYBJP) May 7, 2018

Earlier today, Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Siddaramaiah of shielding the corrupt while citing the example of Vijay Eswaran.

Without taking the name of Eswaran, who is accused of duping lakhs of people through a ponzi scheme in the state, Prasad said, “A gentleman who was under scrutiny of your government under Manmohan Singh is not only feted in China but comes to Karnataka and launches a ponzi scheme because of which approximately 2 lakh people lost their hard-earned savings.”

Read More: What’s Rahul Gandhi’s stand on triple talaq: Ravi Shankar Prasad wants to know

Eswaran has been reportedly accused by a whistleblower who alleged that the Karnataka CM met the ponzi scheme accused in China in 2013. The whistleblower also claimed that the Karnataka police was not taking any action against Eswaran’s firm is under the scrutiny of police of Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.