Bengaluru: The social media war on Bengaluru infrastructure has intensified with the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also in charge of Bengaluru city shooting back at his detractors saying that ``this is no China or Communist country. We live in a democratic country where the government can not take whichever land it wants for developmental works.''
The social media war started since Tuesday, when Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mujumdar Shaw taking her X-account to complain about Bengaluru infrastructure woos, while Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh claimed that he was positioning Andhra as the `bwetter side of Bengaluru' and said that he was competing every rupee of investment and hinting that disgruntled tech firms from India's startup capital are already looking his way..
In her X account message, Kiran Mujumdar Shaw said: ``I had an overseas business visitor to Biocon Park who said, `Why are the roads so bad, and why is there so much garbage around? Doesn't the government want to support investment? I have just come from China and can't understand why India can't get its act together, especially when the winds are favourable?''
Though the social media message evoked sharp reaction from ministers like M B Patil, Priyank Kharge and Ramalinga Reddy that the corporate sectors never criticise BJP ruled states over infrastructure and only criticized Congress ruled states.
Though initially D K Shivakumar exhibited calm and said that the state government had already initiated steps to fill half of the potholes during the last 15 days, he also went ballistic after the statement by Andhra Minister Nara Lokesh.
``A few people talk about Bengaluru to market themselves and there is no city in the country parallel to Bengaluru. Those who are criticizing Bengaluru on social media have grown to exponential levels in Bengaluru itself. If it is important for them to threaten us through social media, let them go ahead with it,'' he said.
Refusing to react to the comments made by Nara Lokesh, Shivakumar said that there were 25 lakh techies and over two lakh foreign nationals were working in Bengaluru. The contribution of Bengaluru for the development of country is enormous, and Central government is getting over 40% of its tax revenue generation from Bengaluru.
``They talk about Bengalauru to market themselves and let them talk. Let even the Central government extend all support to them. They can never match Bengaluru. We know how many foreign investors are in touch with us. They want to build their campus in their own land here. It is the strength of Bengaluru,'' he said.
Taking a dig at Kiran Mujumdar Shaw, Shivakumar asked where did the person threatening through social media lived for the last 25 years?
``Through her social media message, she is demeaning her own state and the country. She should realise where she was for the last 25 years. She should also remember the cooperation and the land provided by the government for them to enable give employment to so many people. We have been doing our best to fill all the potholes, and this is not China or a communist country, where the government can take any land for its use and build infrastructure. We have to take consent of the landowners and there are legal procedures for that,'' he added.
