Twitter spat turns focus from Bengaluru vs Hyderabad infra to halal, hijab

The Karnataka BJP has hit back at Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao for advising the state government to focus on infrastructure, IT and BT, and not on hijab and halal issues.
(L-R) Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao and Karnataka PCC chief DK Shivakumar.
(L-R) Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao and Karnataka PCC chief DK Shivakumar.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka BJP has hit back at Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao for advising the state government to focus on infrastructure, IT and BT, and not on hijab and halal issues. With this, the twitter war that started with Bengaluru’s infrastructure, has turned to controversial issues.

The spat started when Rama Rao invited Bengaluru-based startups, who had complained about poor infrastructure, to move to Hyderabad. KPCC president D K Shivakumar responded, challenging him to wait for 2023 when the Congress would come to power and take Bengaluru back to its former glory.

In his latest tweet, Rao said he doesn’t know much about the politics of Karnataka, but he accepts the challenge. “Let Hyderabad and Bengaluru compete healthily on creating jobs for our youngsters and prosperity for our great nation. Let’s focus on infra, IT and BT, not on Halal and Hijab,’’ he stated.

Responding to KTR’s latest tweet, the BJP termed his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, as a “coward ruling party” that is harassing BJP workers. In a series of tweets, the Karnataka BJP hit out at Rao by giving out development figures, comparing the state to Telangana.

It stated that Karnataka stands first in the recent NITI Aayog Innovative Index report, while Telangana was placed fourth. The party mentioned that Bengaluru ranks 40th in Global Residential Cities Index whereas Hyderabad is ranked 128.

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Bengaluru: In the backdrop of the Twitter spat between Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao and the BJP, KPCC president D K Shivakumar expressed concern at the “atmosphere of unrest” in Karnataka.

“Neither the Chief Minister nor any other minister has said that they will ensure peace in our state. Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw talked about the grim situation in the state and no one in the government has been able to satisfactorily address the concerns raised by her. The government is not able to say we will help create jobs here and not allow any investor to go to other states,” he told TNIE.

He said vested interests are raising fresh controversies each morning to trigger unrest in the state. “Our first priority in Karnataka is to bring in more investment and ensure there are more jobs,” the Congress leader said.

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