Challenge accepted: K'taka Cong chief to Telangana minister

Bengaluru, April 4: Responding to the 'pack your bags from Bengaluru to Hyderabad' comment of Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, K.T. Ramarao, the Karnataka State Congress Party President D.K. Shivakumar on Monday stated that his challenge has been accepted.

"K.T. Ramarao, 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," said Shivakumar on his social media handle. The statement, though intended to reply to Telangana Minister Ramarao's statement, has severely embarrassed the ruling BJP government as it endorsed the statement on infrastructure in Bengaluru has suffered.

Ravish Naresh, an entrepreneur from Bengaluru earlier stated that startups in HSR, Koramangala (India's Silicon Valley) are already generating billions of dollars of taxes. Yet we have bad roads, almost daily power cuts, poor quality of water supply, unusable foot paths. Many rural areas now have better basic infra than India's Silicon Valley. He further stated that also the airport is 3 hours away in peak traffic.

Responding to the tweet K.T. Ramarao, Minister in Telangana and son of Chief Minister K.C. Nageshwara Rao called on the entrepreneur to pack his 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."

He also stated that "more importantly our government's focus is on '3 i Mantra'; innovation, infrastructure and inclusive growth."

Emphasising that the state of Karnataka does not underestimate the uniqueness of neighbouring states, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, the minister for IT/BT and S&T, had earlier said, the state believes in competing globally.

Reacting to the press persons query over tweets of K.T. Rama Rao welcoming startups in Bengaluru to move to his state, he told, "We are all Indians first. We are not intolerant of the progress of our neighbouring states.

"In India, every state has its own uniqueness. We firmly believe in the entire India growing as one country. The Telangana minister had tweeted after a few startups and Bengaluru-based entrepreneurs had expressed dissatisfaction about the bad condition of roads in Bengaluru," he said.

"Karnataka is currently known world over as a city of startups, innovation, science and technology. The city has not earned this fame overnight," he said.