The campaign to castigate PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim for consuming alcohol has opened a can of worms for Barisan Nasional as pro-Pakatan Rakyat bloggers are responding by uploading pictures, purportedly depicting top Umno leaders of doing the same.

NONE Two blogs got the ball rolling by claiming that they would provide evidence of Zaid's  alleged drinking habit by noon today. This news was splashed on the front page (left) of Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia .

The two pro-Umno blogs - Gerakan Anti-PKR and Pisau.net - both published the same grainy picture of Zaid setting his hands on the table with his fingers locked with a bottle of unopened whisky.

As the hours passed, the awkward position of the hands and bottle led discerning netizens to deduce that the photograph was doctored.

The original photograph was published in 2008 by Nut Graph news portal, depicting Zaid while being interviewed in a restaurant, sans the booze.

'Picture of minister and wife'

According to the Gerakan Anti-PKR article, the photograph was provided by ‘PKR insiders' and the author promised further exposé to come.

The author claimed that he was in possession of eight more photographs and an eight-minute video of three PKR leaders in an "embarrassing situation".

In apparent retaliation, a blog titled Salt, Pepper and a little Kicap posted a series of pictures purportedly of a senior Umno leader and cabinet minister holding a can of beer. The Umno leader's wife was depicted doing the same.

This article was later picked up by prominent lawyer Haris Ibrahim on his blog , where he attacked the said minister for claiming that Umno had no role to play in the attacks against Zaid's morality.

NONE Kota Belud MP and former Umno Youth secretariat member Abdul Rahman Dahlan immediately responded this afternoon through his Twitter page, claiming that the photograph was doctored.

"Saw alleged Hisham's photo drinking... Clearly doctored! Some Peeps here and Oppo no class lah!" wrote Abdul Rahman.

Khairy also put on the spot

Later in the afternoon, another picture surfaced online in which one individual looked like Rembau MP and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who was in the company of an unknown man and two scantily-clad women.

The setting appeared to be a nightclub and the quartet were sitted at what appears to be a table full of alcoholic drinks.

NONE The matter was brought to Khairy's attention through Twitter. The politician merely brushed off the matter.

" Apa yg betul? Adakah saya minum apa2 dlm gambar tersebut? (What is the truth? Am I drinking anything in the photograph?)" he asked.

When contacted, PKR information chief Latheefa Koya said the rampant distribution of Zaid's doctored photographs and the prominence given to it by Utusan Malaysia showed that Barisan Nasional were running out of ideas.

"I don't want to comment if they managed to get good pictures or bad pictures. We do not want to be distracted from the real issues (in Hulu Selangor) and they (bloggers) are free to do what they want," she said.

Attempts to contact Khairy for comments were futile.