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Shivakumar feels the heat as Bengaluru CEO’s relocation post reignites pothole debate

Live Match Score- IPL 2025 > Blog > Politics > Shivakumar feels the heat as Bengaluru CEO’s relocation post reignites pothole debate
  • September 18, 2025
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Bengaluru: Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure, already under attack from industry leaders and residents, is the subject of scrutiny yet again—this time by Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The Mandya MP and former chief minister of Karnataka hit out at current Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar Thursday over the dilapidated state of the city under the Congress government, saying that it is “tragic that Bengaluru is now gaining infamy as the ‘City of Potholes’.” He also accused the Bengaluru city corporation of “swallowing taxpayer money”.

“The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are responsible for this disgrace. Today, Bengaluru and Karnataka are trapped in the hands of the incompetent and the corrupt. At every step, there is a death trap of potholes; everywhere one looks, heaps of garbage. Is this what they call Greater Bengaluru? What is BBMP doing swallowing taxpayers’ money while doing nothing?” he wrote in a post on X.

Kumaraswamy’s statements added to an already growing debate around the deteriorating infrastructure in Bengaluru, which has lately made more headlines than the state capital’s success in information technology, startups and aviation.

His remarks come days after Rajesh Yabaji, the chief executive and co-founder of BlackBuck, said that the company was moving out of one of India’s biggest technology corridors that is alongside the ORR after nine years as it was “very-very hard to continue here” due to the city’s pothole-riddled roads.

Though successive governments have claimed to solve Bengaluru’s problems, most have been accused of having left the city in a worse state—even earning it the distinction of becoming a “template of urban ruin”.

Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, has often been targeted for proposing big-ticket projects, like the Tunnel Road and Skydeck, instead of failing to provide even the basic facilities for the city’s 1.4 crore residents.

Stating that a deadline (of November) has been set to fill the potholes in Bengaluru, the deputy CM Thursday said he would not evade responsibility.

“It is natural for roads to have potholes during the rainy season and we have given a deadline to fill them. We have also instructed MLAs to use the grants to fill the potholes,” he told reporters at Vidhana Soudha.

Asked why the pothole issue persists, he said, “We have given a deadline and allocated responsibilities to officials. There have been many potholes around Vidhana Soudha due to overnight rains yesterday and it is natural. We are working to fix this issue. The issue will not be resolved just because some people tweet about it and some people issue media statements.”

On Kumaraswamy’s remarks, he said, “What is Kumaraswamy’s contribution to Bengaluru as a Union minister? The UPA government had given a lot of funds to Bengaluru under the Jawaharlal urban renewal mission. He is the right-hand man of the PM, why can’t he get Rs 10,000 crore for Bengaluru city? He had said that he would get approvals for the Mekedatu project in 5 minutes, what happened to it? Why hasn’t he got approval for the Mahadayi project?” 

The deputy CM added: “He calls himself son of the soil, why is he not commenting against Maharashtra’s threat that it would move the Supreme Court opposing the Upper Krishna Project? Issues won’t be resolved by tweeting.”

In a conversation with NDTV , Shivakumar said that Bengaluru has become very big and unmanageable, and that is why the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) was brought in. He added that if industries or others have problems, they should reach out to the government and the same will be sorted out.

“I wish him (BlackBuck CEO) all good luck. If he wants, if he is not satisfied about this manpower, this talent, these facilities…I can’t stop him. But no one can threaten the government,” he said, adding that blackmailing the government will not work and that those who want to leave can do so.

He even said that the heavily circulated video of three young school girls complaining about the time spent inside their school bus is “all politics”.

Shivakumar also said that the government had provided Rs 125 crore for all five newly carved out corporations under GBA to “strengthen urban development”.

“The progress of Bengaluru is our collective priority, and we stand determined to achieve it,” he said.

In another post on Wednesday, he wrote, “Bengaluru’s roads are getting the attention they need…”

But nothing appears to have moved so far since most of the city’s roads are either dug up, riddled with potholes, prone to flooding and choked with massive traffic jams.

Also Read: Will splitting Bengaluru into 5 corporations fix its civic mess? As GBA replaces BBMP, scepticism remains

‘Come to Andhra Pradesh’

Bengaluru is not short on funds, but widespread corruption, lack of political will, absence of an elected council and sheer apathy are some of the factors that are said to have overshadowed the city’s better-known strengths.

Industry captains, like Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai, have persistently voiced concerns on the issue of crumbling infrastructure, calling on the state government to do better and provide the basics. The poor quality of public infrastructure has also been used as a clarion call by neighbouring states to woo companies away from Bengaluru.

On Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh extended the offer to come to Visakhapatnam once more to the BlackBuck CEO who had aired his grievances about the poor quality of roads in the Outer Ring Road (ORR), and how he was moving out as he was unable to cope.

In a post on X Tuesday, Rajesh Yabaji wrote that the average commute for his colleagues had gone up to 1.5 hours each way. “Roads full of potholes & dust, coupled with lowest intent to get them rectified. Didn’t see any of this changing in the next 5 years,” he added.

Responding to this, Pai said that this was a “big big failure” on the part of Shivakumar, and that companies’ exit from ORR was leading to a situation “beyond hope”.

He wasn’t the only one. “This is serious. Emergency measures needed to fix these issues,” Mazumdar-Shaw posted on X.

Lokesh, of course, had other plans. He responded to the BlackBuck CEO impressing upon him to move to Vizag. “We are rated among top 5 cleanest cities in India, are building best-in-class infra, and have been rated the safest city for women. Please send me a DM,” he posted on X.

On Lokesh, Shivakumar said, “They don’t have businesses there and hence they are calling. Why did the PM call Bengaluru a global city? All those who benefit from Bengaluru will stay here.”

This is an updated version of the report.

(Edited by Sugita Katyal)

Also Read: L&T exit aside, Bengaluru’s suburban rail dream faces another big hurdle—shinier big-ticket projects

 




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