biocon-chief-kiran-mazumdar-shaw-meets-k-taka-cm-dcm

Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivakumar, on Tuesday to offer Diwali greetings, according to official sources. Shaw has been a vocal critic of Bengaluru's infrastructure problems, frequently highlighting the woes of the city through her social media posts and repeatedly urging the state government to intervene.

"Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw visited Cauvery (the CM's official residence) and wished Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Diwali. Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti was present on the occasion," the Chief Minister’s office said in a statement. Separately, the Deputy Chief Minister’s office confirmed that Shaw met Shivakumar at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru.

The state government has faced mounting criticism over the poor condition of roads and persistent traffic issues in the city for some time now, with industry veterans such as former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Shaw repeatedly urging the state government publicly to intervene immediately.

In the face of this criticism from industry leaders, Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in charge of Bengaluru development, had recently urged them to stop "hurting" the city and the state that had contributed to their growth. Saying that the government was making every effort to resolve the issues, he appealed to industry leaders not to forget their "roots" — Bengaluru, Karnataka, and its people — and asked them to be patient, stressing that "there is a limitation for everything."

The Deputy Chief Minister subsequently alleged that both she and Mohandas Pai had some "personal agenda," as they hadn't raised any issues relating to Bengaluru infrastructure during the preceding Bharatiya Janata Party regime. Shaw rejected this claim, posting on X: "Not true. Both TV Mohandas Pai and I have criticised deteriorating infrastructure in our city to previous BJP & Janata Dal Secular Governments. Our agenda is clear, clean up and restore roads."

 

Also read: Karnataka to bring rules checking RSS activities in public places