'Challenge accepted': Telangana minister KTR reply to DK Shivakumar's 'best city' tweet

Shivakumar, picking up on a reply by the Telangana minister's tweet, posed a challenge that “Bengaluru will become India's best city by 2023”, overtaking Hyderabad.

Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and Telangana minister KT Rama Rao on Monday threw down a challenge to each other over India's best city for tech entrepreneurs amid controversy over Halal meat and the hijab. Shivakumar, picking up on a reply by the Telangana minister's tweet, posed a challenge that “Bengaluru will become India's best city by 2023”, overtaking Hyderabad.

Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao and Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar

The co-founder of Housing.com and Khatabook Ravish Naresh had recently tweeted about the hardships faced by start-ups in India's silicon valley. "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 infra than India's Silicon Valley. Also the nearest airport is 3 hours away in peak traffic,” he had written, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP Karnataka.

Responding to this, Rao had asked the start-ups to move to Hyderabad. “Pack your bags and move to Hyderabad! We have better physical infrastructure and equally good social infrastructure. Our airport is 1 of the best & getting in and out of the city is a breeze(sic)”, he said.

Reacting to the exchange, Shivakumar said the Congress would come back in power in Karnataka by 2023 and restore Bengaluru’s glory as India’s best city.

“My friend (KTR), 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,” he tweeted.

The Telangana minister responded to the Karnataka Congress president by “accepting the challenge.” He, however, said the two cities should compete healthily in creating jobs for youngsters.

Karnataka, where the assembly elections are likely to be held early next year, has witnessed major turbulence since 2019 - when the Congress-JDS coalition government collapsed. And then, in 2021, the BJP's BS Yediyurappa was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai as the chief minister.