BENGALURU
Responding to Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who recently defended Bengaluru’s tunnel project and called Surya an empty vessel, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said that Bengaluru’s future cannot be shaped by political ego clashes but by a shared vision for sustainable development.
Surya said that his opposition is rooted in concern for the city’s long-term well-being. Our opposition to the tunnel road is not just restricted to the damage it will cause to Lalbagh and Sankey Tank, but to the whole of the city. The project will worsen traffic in Bengaluru and not address the core issue, which is reducing private vehicles and increasing public transport, he told media persons.
Calling for cooperation instead of confrontation, Surya added, Bengaluru will not benefit from an ego fight between DK Shivakumar and Tejasvi Surya. What Bengaluru needs today is a comprehensive urban mobility plan. We don’t have objections to the completion of pending flyovers in the city. Our objection is only to the tunnel road because it won’t solve the problem. It’s going to be a waste of public money.
Responding to Shivakumar’s personal jibe, Surya said that he would not resort to name-calling. “What the city needs is bipartisan leadership and mature political leadership. It is very easy for me also to indulge in name-calling, but that is not what I want to do. I hope that we all can work together to actually make Bengaluru one of the most livable cities in the world. That should be our vision,” Surya said.
Earlier on Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and advocate Tejasvi Surya appeared before the Karnataka High Court, representing actor Prakash Belawadi in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the proposed Tunnel Road project at Lalbagh Rock in Bengaluru.
