BENGALURU: Bangalore South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Monday hit back at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress on the row over the Kalasavalli-Ambargondlu bridge inauguration in Shivamogga district. Addressing the press conference, MP Surya said that if the Chief Minister did not attend the event, it raises concerns over his commitment for the state.
“The bridge project had been pending for a very long time. All government programmes are conducted as per established protocols. If the Chief Minister is saying he will not participate in the event, it raises questions about his commitment to the development of Karnataka”, Tejasvi Surya told reporters.
He further questioned the state government’s Silk Board tunnel project and called it unscientific. Raising concern over the budget of the tunnel project, Surya said, “Kerala coastal highway Trivandrum to Kasargod, 656kms completed in Rs 6500 crores and KR Puram to Silk Board flyover needs more than Rs 5600 crores. How is that possible? Even DK Shivakumar says even God cannot fix Bengaluru’s traffic. It is an economic apartheid. This tunnel road project is not good for Bengaluru, and it is not scientific”.
The ₹18,500 Cr Tunnel Road is a deadweight on Bengaluru, designed not for the common man, but for the elite 10% who own private cars.
What the city actually needs:
– 16,580 BMTC buses by 2031. We have just 6,800.
– 317 km Metro by 2031. Only 78 km operational today.Yellow… pic.twitter.com/xZ02Of7J9I
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) July 14, 2025
He added that the BJP will protest against the tunnel road project. “So the BJP will fight and protest against this. This is a plan to loot the people of Bengaluru,” Tejasvi Surya said.
The row began with the boycott of the inauguration of the bridge by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his Cabinet colleagues, and Congress MLAs as a mark of protest after the CM’s request to postpone the event was rejected by the Centre.
Earlier, Minister Priyank Kharge accused the Centre of doing “politics” over the issue. “This habit has been followed by the Central government for over a decade now. We were also in Delhi earlier, but we have never done this kind of politics. We would follow the protocols and structure, giving due respect to the state government and local representatives. Now, someone from Delhi decides that this is the time to inaugurate something and sends the invitation very late, showing that you are invited, but you can’t make it to the event,” Kharge said.
He added, “They are inaugurating projects on video conference and claiming the propriety. We have also invested money in this, given the structure and land. Everything has been happening only from Delhi, as if the state government has no role in it. This is wrong.”
Earlier on Monday, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for multiple key infrastructure projects, including the Kalasavalli-Ambargondlu bridge in Shivamogga.
The bridge and the approach roads have been constructed at a cost of over Rs 473 crore by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The cable-stayed bridge across the Sharavati River backwaters reconnects villages severed by the 1960s Linganmakki dam construction. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa accompanied Gadkari to the occasion. (ANI)
