The Congress workers were seen setting fire to a pair of khaki knickers.
In Karnataka, the latest flashpoint between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress is playing out around an unusual prop - the underwear or "chaddi".
It all started when members of the Congress students' wing NSUI (National Students Union of India) burnt underwear outside the Home of Education Minister BC Nagesh last week, calling it their protest against "saffronisation" of school textbooks. The workers were seen setting fire to a pair of khaki knickers - the kind associated with the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The BJP reportedly complained to the police that the NSUI activists were trying to burn the minister's house down. The Congress decided to double down on its protest and amp up its "burn-the-chaddi" campaign.
"During a protest, we symbolically burnt one underwear - just one underwear. But the police and government made it a big issue and said we are trying to burn the house... So let's start a chaddi-burning campaign," Congress leader Siddaramaiah said.
Congress workers burnt underwear at various places in Chitradurga and Chickmangaluru today.
The BJP is retaliating with its own campaign to send underwear to Congress leaders.
BJP workers have launched a house-to-house collection drive for "chaddis" to send them to Congress leaders' homes.
One video showed workers collecting a cardboard box full of underwear in Mandya and parceling it to the Karnataka Congress office.
The Congress claims no one from the party has received any package yet.
Union minister Pralhad Joshi was quoted as saying that Congress leaders were burning underwear as they had "lost" their chaddi - apparently using it as a metaphor for losing in elections.
"Siddaramaiah and the Congress's chaddi is loose already. They have torn chaddi. So, they are burning chaddis. Their chaddi was lost in Uttar Pradesh. Siddaramaiah lost his chaddi and lungi in Chamundeshwari. To hit back, he's trying to burn Sangh's (RSS) chaddi," Pralhad Joshi was quoted as saying in reports.