Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday called Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah “an ex-jail bird” a day after Shah said that the Congress leader and corruption were two faces of the same coin.

“Can he present facts about the so called corruption charges against me or my government,” Siddaramaiah asked in a tweet. “Just telling lies will not help. People will not believe his false promises.”

The chief minister then asked his predecessor DV Sadananda Gowda if he would be able to answer how the wealth of Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah “increased 16,000 times in three years”.

“If I start counting the corruption charges against the Karnataka chief minister, I won’t be able to go from here,” Amit Shah had said at a rally in Mysuru on Thursday. BJP leaders had accused the Siddaramaiah government of misusing official machinery to ensure protests about the Mahadayi river water sharing dispute are held on a day the party’s leaders were scheduled to campaign in the state.

Karnataka is scheduled to go to the polls later this year.