Resistance to Hindi "imposition", a poll issue which was long overdue, has come to the fore.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's tongue-in-cheek reply to BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka, P Muralidhara Rao, has sent Twitterati into a tizzy.
Tweeting to Siddaramaiah in Hindi, Rao taunted him for seeking to contest from two places (Chamundeshwari and Badami) and claimed the BJP would make Karnataka "Congress-mukt".
Siddaramaiah's flat reply in Kannada, "Please tweet in Kannada or English, Sir. I don't understand Hindi," went viral on Twitter with thousands of likes and retweets. It prompted Rao to translate the original tweet into Kannada.
The issues of language and identity, especially the opposition to Hindi imposition and the proposal for a Karnataka flag, have provided the Congress with enough opportunities to throw punches at the BJP, which supports Hindi and opposes the idea of the separate state flag.
Twitter responded positively to Siddaramiah's tweet, once again reminding the BJP leader to speak the language of the land if he wants to speak to Kannadigas. Supporters of the Congress soon used the clip of Siddaramiah's quoted retweet to take on the BJP's "soft spot for Hindi".
Many also pointed out that the chief minister's Twitter account contradicts the statement made in his affidavit that he had no social media accounts.