A post on Twitter by a senior startup executive from Bengaluru over its poor quality of public infrastructure has ignited a war of words between the Karnataka government and its counterparts in Telangana.
Ravish Naresh, founder and chief executive of Khatabook and housing.com on March 30 posted on Twitter, which read, “Startups in HSR/Koramangala (India’s Silicon Valley) are already generating billions of $ of taxes. Yet we have v bad roads, almost daily power cuts, poor quality water supply, unusable footpaths. Many rural areas now have better basic infra than India’s Silicon Valley.”
To this, Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao responded: “Pack your bags & move to Hyderabad! We have better physical infrastructure & equally good social infrastructure. Our airport is 1 of the best & getting in & out of the city is a breeze. More importantly, our Govt’s focus is on 3 I Mantra; innovation, infrastructure & inclusive growth.”
On Monday, Dr Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka’s minister for higher education, Information Technology, Biotechnology, Science & technology hit back at his counterpart.
“One of the ministers from Hyderabad, he posted a tweet in which he said pack your bags... that was not in a good taste that should not be the culture or attitude being in a responsible position trying to pull legs of each other doesn’t do good for any government,” Narayan said on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}“One of the ministers from Hyderabad, he posted a tweet in which he said pack your bags... that was not in a good taste that should not be the culture or attitude being in a responsible position trying to pull legs of each other doesn’t do good for any government,” Narayan said on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}“We are not jealous of any of our neighbours. If they (neighbouring states) do well we get inspired, we respect we appreciate. Overall it is for the welfare of the country, the good of the country. Probably in whatever taste he has made that comment is condemnable,” he added.
What prompted the response by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government was the fact that state Congress president DK Shivakumar also posted a tweet in which he claimed to bring back Bengaluru’s “lost glory”.
“.@ktrtrs, 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,” Shivakumar posted on Monday.
Rao responded that he did not know much about Karnataka’s politics but said he accepted the “challenge”, that the two cities engage in healthy competition and focus on infra, IT& BT and “not on Halal & Hijab”.
Dr K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s minister for health, family welfare and medical education joined the conversation when he posted that Bengaluru was not in competition with any other Indian city and only with international centres.
“@ktrtrs garu - you should know that Bengaluru’s competition has never been with other Indian cities or states. Our competition is with the likes of Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Tel Aviv. We in Bangalore are proud hosts to people from multiple states and countries. @BSBommai,” he posted.
On Monday, Rao responded to a tweet on the ongoing controversy around hijab and halal, mixing politics with the infrastructure challenges under the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government.
“Strange & sad are the state of affairs in Bengaluru!! And then some BJP politicos from Bengaluru come & lecture us on how to run the Govt in Telangana! What’s happening in KA is a shame on all of us in India; ruins our reputation as a nation in attracting investments,” Rao said in a post.