DK Shivakumar 
Karnataka

'Will restore glory of Bengaluru': Congress reacts to KTR's barb at city

The issue began after entrepreneur Ravish Naresh, co-founder of Housing.com and Khatabook, took to Twitter to complain about the lack of civic facilities in Bengaluru.

Written by : TNM Staff

The Congress in Karnataka has hit out at the ruling BJP led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, after Telangana Information Technology (IT) Minister KT Rama Rao’s barb at the state. The issue began after entrepreneur Ravish Naresh, co-founder of Housing.com and Khatabook, took to Twitter to complain about the lack of civic facilities in Bengaluru.

“Startups in HSR/Koramangala (India's Silicon Valley) are already generating billions of dollars of taxes. Yet we have very bad roads, almost daily power cuts, poor quality water supply, unusable foot paths. Many rural areas now have better basic infrastructure than India's Silicon Valley,” Naresh tweeted. “Also the nearest airport is over three hours away in peak traffic,” he added.

Responding to the tweet, KTR had said, “Pack your bags and move to Hyderabad! We have better physical infrastructure and equally good social infrastructure. Our airport is one of the best and getting in and out of the city is a breeze. More importantly, our government's focus is on three 'i' mantras: innovation, infrastructure and inclusive growth.” The tweet gained a lot of traction, including from Congress leaders in Karnataka.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar responded on the issue, and tagging KTR, said, “My friend, I accept your challenge. By the end of 2023, with Congress back in power in Karnataka, we will restore the glory of Bengaluru as India’s best city.”

Responding to this, KTR said, “I don’t know much about politics of Karnataka and who will win but challenge accepted. Let Hyderabad and Bengaluru compete healthily on creating jobs for our youngsters and prosperity for our great nation. Let’s focus on infrastructure, IT&BT, not on halal and hijab.”

Priyank Kharge, Chittapur MLA and former IT Minister of the state, also responded to the issue. He said, “Congratulations CMO Karnataka, we now have our neighbour telling startups to move to Hyderabad for not only better infrastructure, but also a better “social” infrastructure. A few more economic jihads from your party will ensure that we neither get investments or jobs.”

The tweet was seemingly in reference to a call by Hindu groups in Karnataka to boycott halal meat for the 'Varshadodaku' or 'Hosa Todaku', the day after the Ugadi festival, when many communities in the state have a non-vegetarian feast. BJP national general secretary CT Ravi had even called halal food "economic jihad."

The halal controversy came days after a Karnataka High Court order dismissed a set of petitions by Muslim girls from the Udupi Government Pre-University Girls' College who challenged a government order banning hijab or any cloth that disturbed peace, harmony and public order from classrooms. Maintaining that hijab was not an essential religious practice, the court said students have to abide by the school uniform norm.