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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah called Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath as 'north Indian imports'Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has upped the ante in the run-up to the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, May 12, as he called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 'north Indian imports'.

However, soon after the Karnataka CM took to Twitter early Wednesday morning, April 25, to voice his opinion, the state BJP wing wasted no time to retaliate as it tweeted "Imports? How much lower can you stoop Mr. CM?"

The state Bharatiya Janata Party wing lashed out at Siddaramaiah as he also claimed that the BJP's chief ministerial candidate, BS Yeddyurappa, has been reduced to a 'dummy.'

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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah called the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, a "north Indian import."Reuters

While speaking on whether there is a Modi wave in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah told in an interview for The Week: "Let Modi come here a hundred times. It will not make any changes as the people have already decided to vote for Congress. Admittedly, BJP has shown it has no leaders in Karnataka, so they need the PM. There is no Modi factor and there is no Modi wave."

Here are the tweets that were exchanged between the BJP Karnataka's official Twitter handle and CM Siddaramaiah.

Siddaramaiah also praised the Congress president Rahul Gandhi for campaigning in Karnataka. Gandhi started his campaign in the second week of February, beginning with Bellary, the same place where his mother Sonia Gandhi had contested for the Lok Sabha elections in 1999.

Gandhi will be present in Mangalore April 27, to release the party's manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls. Gandhi would also be visiting parts of Uttara Kannada like Ankola city, Mastikatte Circle (Kumta), Saraswati Circle (Honnavar) and hold a meeting at Bhatkal, the Congress said in a statement.

The assembly elections will be held on May 12 in a single phase in all the 224 constituencies. The counting is scheduled for May 15.